Atkinsons, firms they control owe US Fidelis $65 million, bankruptcy filing shows
According to its recent bankruptcy filing, the Atkinson brothers — and companies they control — owe US Fidelis more than $65 million.
That money — which is separate from the more than $100 million a former company executive said the Atkinsons were paid from 2004 through 2007 — appears to be the source of a dispute between the Atkinsons and their company, which is managed by a restructuring officer.
The filing says Darain Atkinson owes the firm $28.2 million; Cory Atkinson owes $20.5 million; and the brothers’ real-estate holding companies owe about $17 million.
Cory Atkinson’s attorney, Spencer Desai, said that much of that money was a combination of executive compensation and shareholder dividends and that his client signed no loan documents. Darain Atkinson’s attorney would not comment.
The court filing lists about $20 million in payments made last year to the Atkinsons or on their behalf, including cash advances, such as the $500,000 each brother got last spring and the additional $2.8 million Cory Atkinson withdrew on April 2. Those payments were in addition to the brothers’ $25,000 weekly draws, and their base salaries of about $96,923.
Other charges outlined in the exhibit include:
— For Cory Atkinson, at least $75,000 in landscaping for his homes, as well as $445,283 that went to a high-end home furnisher to decorate his $2.9 million mansion near Lake Tahoe.
— For Darain Atkinson, costs associated with his $4.3 million, beachfront house on Grand Cayman: at least seven monthly mortgage bills, each for $18,982; $60,000 in insurance on the house; $5,707 to a property-management company; $2,670 on landscaping; as well as cable and utility bills there.
— $25,993 to Nautico Boat Services, a yacht-management company in the Cayman Islands; and more than $40,000 in other expenses marked "Cayman Islands" in the bankruptcy filing.
— 331 payments totaling about $7.2 million related to Darain Atkinson’s 20,752-square-foot compound in Lake Saint Louis, including: $351,219 to Eureka Forge, an architectural blacksmith in Pacific; $273,741 to Theo Kalomirakis Theaters, a New York home cinema design firm; $225,190 to Troy, Mo.-based Rivers West Landscaping; $926,983 to Pacific-based Kirkwood Stair and Millwork; $278,349 to St. Louis-based Metro Lighting.
— Payments to 16 Atkinsons’ relatives who were on the company’s payroll last year.
— More than $1 million to two Atkinson relatives in care of a tiny bank in Spearville, Kan. — population 813, about 17 miles from Dodge City. The relatives are identified in the filing as Randy and Robb Ardery. They could not be reached for comment.
Filed under: management by Pascal