The Country Music Hall of Fame’s possession of historic instruments played by Johnny Cash, Bill Monroe, and Mother Maybelle Carter are in limbo following the suicide and subsequent bankruptcy of Bob McLean, a philanthropist accused of robbing investors of $67 million in a Ponzi scheme.
GAC reports McLean’s former investors are legally entitled to recoup their losses, including his museum donations of “a pair of guitars formerly owned by Johnny Cash, $1.5 million, which funded the purchase of Mother Maybelle’s 1928 Gibson guitar and Bill Monroe’s 1923 Gibson mandolin, two stringed pieces that played a major role in the development of country music and bluegrass.”
On Tuesday the U.S. Bankruptcy Court began considering the Country Music Hall of Fame’s proposal to exchange $750,000 for ownership of the instruments. Tim McGraw’s manager, Scott Siman, and Hall of Fame officials have enacted a fundraising campaign for the money which is payable within 30 days of the court’s ruling.