Apostolou & Home - Sovereigns in Giordano's Pizza Bankruptcy

[Kestrel]

Home is in way over his head now, and Apostolou isn't far behind. The DOJ, through the US Trustee Program, is aggressive about pursuing bankruptcy fraud allegations. They enjoy it.

From the US Trustee Program's website: Report Suspected Bankruptcy Fraud

The US Trustee Program's Annual Reports of Significant Accomplishments and the Reports of Criminal Referrals make for some pretty interesting reading.

Usually the outcome of a bankruptcy fraud allegation is that the debtor quickly backs down and fixes his "problem," to prevent his case from being dismissed with prejudice. But there are still plenty of prosecutions.

[Lambkin]

From the WSJ blog "Bankruptcy Beat":

http://blogs.wsj.com/bankruptcy/2011/07 ... e-arrested

Sovereign-citizen expert J.J. MacNab has identified Mary Home as Elizabeth Broderick, a convicted scam artist nicknamed the “Lien Queen” who served a 17-year sentence for telling hundreds of followers that they could wipe out their debts with fake checks worth $800 million. She was released in December, according to prison records. Mary Home did not respond to an email sent late Friday, and her husband’s cellphone voicemail box was not accepting new messages.

Home used similar rhetoric from the Arizona case to try to put the Giordano’s chain, formally Giordano’s Enterprises Inc., back in the hands of longtime owners John and Eva Apostolou. The couple lost control of the case when the court appointed a Chapter 11 trustee to handle the restaurant chain’s restructuring after the company missed key deadlines and failed to pay the necessary court fees.

[Lambkin]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ ... 9209.story

The Giordano's pizza chain, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last February, was auctioned for $61.6 million early this morning to an investor group led by Chicago-based private equity firm Victory Park Capital.

The proceedings nearly unraveled in May after John and Eva Apostolou, who owned the chain, had to relinquish control of the restaurant business after they fired their bankruptcy attorney and became affiliated with an Arizona man known to be a sovereign citizen, Marshall Home. Home, had intervened, albeit unsuccessfully, in the bankruptcy proceedings. A bankruptcy judge later called Home's presence at one hearing a "sideshow" and a "circus" and resulted in an Arizona man being led away by three security guards and escorted out of the building after he interrupted the proceedings.