attorney general

State attorney general watching St. Pete special needs trust’s bankruptcy, accusations founder took $100M

TAMPA, Fla. – As a federal court appointed a committee of families impacted by the bankruptcy of a special needs trust fund company in St. Petersburg, the Florida Attorney General’s office confirmed it’s keeping an eye on the case.

In a court filing this week, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Tampa named a creditors committee, tasked with following the Center for Special Needs Trust Administration’s bankruptcy case and representing all the families potentially impacted by the situation.

“It just gives us all of a voice and allows us to represent all of the beneficiaries and give them a voice,” said Carol Mulholland, an Orlando mother who is among those appointed to the committee.

RELATED: St. Pete special needs trust fund founder accused of taking $100M becomes target of lawsuit: Court records

The Florida Attorney General’s office, meanwhile, told FOX 13 in a statement that it is following the case, adding, “we are aware, and the appropriate investigative agencies have been notified. We cannot comment further at this time.”

Several families, including Mulholland’s, have said they’ve contacted the FBI.

Last month, the Center filed for bankruptcy, accusing its founder, Leo Govoni, of taking $100 million in unapproved loans from 2009

… Read the rest
March 7, 2024 by ATTORNEY

Lights out? Vision Solar files for Chapter 7 bankruptcy

CAMDEN – A Gloucester Township solar-power firm under fire from its customers and regulators has filed to liquidate its assets in bankruptcy.

The move by Vision Solar LLC will likely leave its creditors unhappy, too.

Vision Solar LLC, which uses telemarketers to sell solar panels and installations to a residential market. listed assets of $8 million.

But it has liabilities of $119 million, including $96 million in unsecured claims.

The company said it does not expect to have enough money to satisfy unsecured creditors.

Vision Solar can’t pay its debts or “feasibly address litigation” against it in courts across the country, the company said in a Dec. 28 filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court here.

A court filing listed more than 50 legal actions against Vision Solar, with many involving claims of consumer fraud. Suits also allege telemarketing violations, unfair termination of employees and lease disputes.

Among other cases, Vision Solar and a South Jersey telemarketing firm agreed to pay $135,000 in July to resolve allegations of misconduct by the U.S. Justice Department and Arizona’s Attorney General.

Among other claims, a suit filed by the agencies said telemarketers repeatedly violated the Do Not Call registry while trying to sell Solar Vision’s

… Read the rest
January 2, 2024 by ATTORNEY

SmileDirectClub Shuts Down, Months After Filing for Bankruptcy

SmileDirectClub, a telehealth company that sold teeth-straightening devices through the mail and faced criticism from medical groups, said on Friday that it had shut down.

The company, founded in 2014, sold teeth aligners online and in its shops for $1,850. It marketed them as a faster, cheaper alternative to braces. SmileDirectClub’s initial public offering in 2019 valued it at $8.9 billion.

SmileDirectClub served more than two million customers over nearly a decade. But the company was not profitable and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September with nearly $900 million of debt, court filings and financial statements show. And this year, it settled a lawsuit from the District of Columbia attorney general’s office that had accused the company of using confidentiality clauses to stifle consumer criticism.

On Friday, SmileDirectClub smiledirectclub.com/” title=””said on its website that it was shutting down its global operations immediately. It apologized to customers for the inconvenience, and urged them to consult a doctor or dentist about future treatment.

Outstanding orders have been canceled, the company said. Customers on a monthly installment payment plan are expected to continue making all of their payments. Those who have completed treatment will no longer qualify for

… Read the rest
December 11, 2023 by ATTORNEY

Albany Diocese says pension fight not why it filed for bankruptcy

SCHENECTADY — When the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany filed for Chapter 11 last week, it noted that its outstanding litigation with state Attorney General Letitia James and others over the collapse of the St. Clare’s Hospital pension plan is not the reason why it sought bankruptcy protection.

Rather, it was the more than 440 lawsuits that have been filed against the diocese under the state’s Child Victims Act since 2019 — 50 of which have been settled — that prompted the diocese to file for bankruptcy.

The diocese does acknowledge the ongoing St. Clare’s litigation, albeit briefly, in its bankruptcy papers filed March 15 in U.S. District Court in Albany.

But the papers note that the St. Clare’s cases, which have been consolidated in state Supreme Court in Schenectady for both discovery and trial, were “not a precipitating cause” of the bankruptcy as might be assumed.

In fact, the diocese went out of its way to try and assure St. Clare’s pensioners in a press release issued last week that the pension lawsuits are “not the diocese’s purpose for filing” Chapter 11, although it will have the effect of putting the pension litigation “on hold” during the bankruptcy

… Read the rest
March 21, 2023 by ATTORNEY

Software sales trainer Prehired loses bid to keep bankruptcy in N.Y.

(Reuters) – A New York bankruptcy judge on Tuesday transferred the bankruptcy of Prehired LLC to Delaware, ruling that the software sales training company did not have sufficient business ties to New York to file for bankruptcy in the state.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Philip Bentley granted the transfer at the request of Delaware’s attorney general, one of several state AGs investigating Prehired for its attempts to collect on payment agreements that allowed students to defer fees for career training.

Prehired filed for Chapter 11 protection in New York in September, citing students’ failure to pay for sales training and state attorney general investigations into its attempt to collect money from former students. Prehired requires its students to pay $30,000 in $500 monthly installments after they land a job in the field of software sales.

Delaware Deputy Attorney General Katherine Devanney argued that Prehired’s bankruptcy case should be heard in Delaware, where the company is incorporated and where it sued 289 former students who did not make payments after completing Prehired’s training.

Prehired’s attorney Christopher Warren argued that the bankruptcy case should remain in New York because its principal assets are contracts based on New York law. The assets are mostly

… Read the rest
October 30, 2022 by ATTORNEY
April 2024
M T W T F S S
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
2930