Practice Areas

Receiverships

When the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Georgia appointed Pat Huddleston to serve as Chapter 11 Examiner in a case filed by Cornerstone Ministries Investments, Inc. (Cornerstone), among the things the Court asked Mr. Huddleston to investigate was the possibility of self-dealing by the officers and directors of the company. Mr. Huddleston and his team began taking sworn testimony from likely witnesses right away. The team also established a contact form on the Huddleston Law Firm website that bondholders (mostly elderly retirees) could use to share information that might help in the investigation. The Court was wise to order the investigation which uncovered undisclosed deals that benefited at least two of Cornerstone’s directors in an amount exceeding $6 million apiece, as well as other improper conduct by the leadership of the company. In addition, Mr. Huddleston’s team, with the help of evidence submitted by more than 500 bondholders, identified promising claims against some of the brokerage firms that sold Cornerstone bonds to the public. The evidence detailed in the Examiner’s report may help bondholders recover amounts in addition to what they expect to receive from the bankruptcy liquidation.

Huddleston Law Firm is accepting new Examiner appointments in Chapter 11 cases. Mr. Huddleston’s experience as an SEC Enforcement Branch Chief, and the firm’s work in complicated Receivership cases commenced by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Trade Commission, allow the Firm to know where to look for evidence and how to gather it quickly and cost-effectively. The HLF Examiner’s Report in the Cornerstone Ministries case is available for review here.