Bakst v. Bank Leumi, USA (In re D.I.T., Inc.)

561 B.R. 793, 26 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. B 143, 2016 Bankr. LEXIS 4436, 63 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 135
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, S.D. Florida.
DecidedDecember 22, 2016
DocketCASE NO. 14-23126-EPK; ADV. PROC. NO. 16-01214-EPK
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 561 B.R. 793 (Bakst v. Bank Leumi, USA (In re D.I.T., Inc.)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, S.D. Florida. primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bakst v. Bank Leumi, USA (In re D.I.T., Inc.), 561 B.R. 793, 26 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. B 143, 2016 Bankr. LEXIS 4436, 63 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 135 (Fla. 2016).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO DISMISS

Erik P. Kimball, Judge, United States Bankruptcy Court

THIS MATTER came before the Court upon Bank Leumi’s Motion to Dismiss Amended Complaint (the “Motion to Dismiss”) [ECF No. 18] filed by Bank Leumi, USA (the “Defendant”), and the response and reply related thereto [ECF . Nos. 40 and 32].

This is an action in which the chapter 7 trustee seeks to avoid several payments by a corporate debtor to its commercial lender, including regular payments under and payoff of the loan, allegedly made with actual intent to hinder, delay or defraud creditors. The debtor operated a legitimate business. The debtor obtained term and revolving financing from a commercial lender. The debtor misled that lender in order to maintain its financing, repeatedly misrepresenting the value of its current assets. The debtor made regular payments on the financing according to its terms. When the original financing was about to mature, the debtor obtained replacement financing from another commercial bank. The loan officer previously employed by the original lender was then employed by [797]*797the replacement lender. The debtor also misled the new lender as to the value of its current assets, thereby avoiding a default on the replacement loan for some time. Eventually the debtor defaulted on its financing. The debtor filed a bankruptcy petition. The debtor’s principal and others were convicted of bank fraud. Now the debtor’s trustee in bankruptcy seeks to avoid several regular payments made by the debtor on its financing with the initial lender and the payoff of that loan from proceeds of the replacement financing. The trustee argues that these payments were made with actual intent to defraud creditors. The trustee argues that the fraud in question was the debtor’s bank fraud. The trustee also argues that the debtor’s unsecured creditors were harmed by the perpetuation of the debtor’s business. The trustee hints in his amended complaint that the initial lender somehow participated in the debtor’s fraudulent misrepresentation of its financial condition to the replacement lender, but there is not a single concrete allegation to support that theory. In the end, there is nothing in the amended complaint to tie the alleged fraud to the transfers the trustee seeks to avoid, other than the bare fact that the debtor was able to maintain its apparently legitimate business for a while longer as a result of the payments and refinancing. The allegations in the amended complaint are not sufficient to support any of the relief requested. The amended complaint will be dismissed. Although the trustee sought leave to amend, a second time, in its original response to the Motion to Dismiss, that response was superseded, the operative response did not seek leave to amend, and so there is no specific request to further amend the amended complaint. In any casé, the trustee’s request to amend in his original response does not include any suggestion as to how the amended complaint could be further amended to address the concerns raised in the Motion to Dismiss and the request was procedurally improper. For these reasons, the amended complaint will be dismissed with prejudice.

Michael Bakst, as Chapter 7 Trustee (the “Plaintiff’) of the bankruptcy estate of D.I.T., Inc. (the “Debtor”), sues the Defendant to avoid and recover alleged fraudulent transfers the Debtor made to the Defendant under the actual intent provisions of 11 U.S.C. § 548(a)(1)(A), and under the actual intent provisions of the laws of Florida (Fla. Stat. § 726.105(l)(a)) and New York (N.Y. Debt. & Cred. Law § 276) as incorporated by 11 U.S.C. § 544. The last count of the amended complaint seeks recovery of the avoided transfers pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 550.

On December 20, 2012, the Debtor used $5,127,163.22 borrowed from Bank Hapoal-im B.M. to satisfy in full the Debtor’s obligations to the Defendant. Prior to that, during the four-year period, before the filing of this case, the Debtor made regular payments to the Defendant on the Defendant’s outstanding loan. The Plaintiff argues that those regular payments by the Debtor to the Defendant and the payment in full of the loan constitute intentional fraudulent transfers avoidable in this case, and that the Plaintiff is entitled to a money judgment against the Defendant in the aggregate amount transferred.

Because this is a motion to dismiss, the Court accepts as true the allegations in the amended complaint [ECF No. 14]. Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544,- 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007)).

The Debtor was a wholesaler of beauty products. Emanuel L. Cohen and his wife, Sally Sue Cohen, owned, operated, and otherwise controlled the Debtor. From the beginning of 2005 until March 2014, the [798]*798Debtor, through Mr. Cohen and others, conceived and engaged in a fraudulent scheme to falsify its accounts receivable and to conceal the existence of loans that the Debtor owed to undisclosed third parties. During this time, the Debtor incurred substantial debts and liabilities which ultimately led to the collapse of its business and discovery of the fraud. The Debtor induced.the Defendant and, later, Bank Hapoalim B.M., to extend millions of dollars of revolving credit and term loans to the Debtor, thereby committing bank fraud.

Several parties assisted Mr. Cohen in perpetrating his fraudulent scheme, including CPA Marc Wieselthier and the accounting firm of Curdo, Wieselthier & Cohen, CPA’s, P.C., f/k/a Garfield, Seltzer, Curcio & Wieselthier, CPA’s, P.C.; Thomas Thompson, a salesman for the Debtor; and Jay Sosonko, the Debtor’s chief financial officer. Mr. Sosonko admitted that the Debtor, with the knowledge and assistance of the others, “cooked the books” of the Debtor by creating false invoices and accounts receivable. The Plaintiff does not specifically allege that the Defendant, or its lending officer, participated in this fraud or even had actual knowledge of it.

The banking relationship between the Debtor and the Defendant began in 2001. Scott Morello, Executive Vice President of the Defendant, was the Debtor’s assigned loan officer. Mr. Morello enjoyed a longstanding personal friendship with Mr. Cohen.

From at least 2006 until December 2012, the Debtor had the benefit of a $4.5 million revolving credit facility (the “Revolver”) and a $700,000 term loan (the “Term Loan” and, together with the Revolver, the “Bank Leumi Loan Facility”), each provided by the Defendant. Mr. Cohen personally guaranteed the Bank Leumi Loan Facility. The Revolver was secured by certain of the Debtor’s assets, including its accounts receivable and inventory. The Debt- or was required to certify to the Defendant certain financial information on a monthly basis and was required to provide to the Defendant annual and semi-annual financial statements. The Debtor falsified the information it provided to the Defendant. While the Plaintiff alleges that Mr.

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561 B.R. 793, 26 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. B 143, 2016 Bankr. LEXIS 4436, 63 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (CRR) 135, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bakst-v-bank-leumi-usa-in-re-dit-inc-flsb-2016.