Securities and Exchange Commission v. Champion-Cain

District Court, S.D. California·Decided July 2, 2020·No. 3:19-cv-01628·Unknown

Opinion

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE Case No.: 3:19-cv-1628-LAB-AHG COMMISSION, ORDER: Plaintiff, v. (1) GRANTING REQUEST TO APPROVE SALE OF CROWN GINA CHAMPION-CAIN AND ANI POINT PROPERTY TO WINNING DEVELOPMENT, LLC, BIDDER; and Defendants, and (2) GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART MOTION FOR AMERICAN NATIONAL APPROVAL OF SALE OF CROWN

Relief Defendant.

[ECF Nos. 318, 334]

I. BACKGROUND As described in prior orders, see, e.g., ECF Nos. 54, 162, 163, this is an action brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) against Defendants ANI Development, LLC (“ANI Development”) and Gina Champion-Cain and Relief Defendant American National Investments, Inc. (“ANI Inc.”), alleging violations of federal securities laws based on a purportedly fraudulent liquor license loan scheme. ECF No. 1. On September 3, 2019, the Court established an equitable receivership and appointed Krista L. Freitag (“Receiver”) as the receiver of ANI Development and ANI Inc., authorizing her to take control over all funds and assets owned, managed, or in the possession or control of the receivership entities. See ECF No. 6 at 14-16. In that role, the Receiver acts under the control and direction of the Court to facilitate the “orderly and efficient administration of the estate . . . for the benefit of creditors.” SEC v. Hardy, 803 F.2d 1034, 1038 (9th Cir. 1986). See also Atl. Tr. Co. v. Chapman, 208 U.S. 360, 370 (1908) (explaining that a motion to appoint a receiver to take charge of property is “to the end that the property might be cared for and preserved for all who had or might have an interest in the proceeds of its sale. . . . Immediately upon such appointment and after the qualification of the receiver, the property [within the equitable receivership] passed into the custody of the law, and thenceforward its administration was wholly under the control of the court by its officer [], the receiver.”). On December 11, 2019, the presiding judge in this action, Chief Judge Burns, granted the parties’ Joint Motion (ECF No. 156) to give limited consent to the undersigned to hear and directly decide all motions filed in this action to approve sales of receivership assets. ECF No. 160. See also 28 U.S.C. § 636(c); CivLR 72.1(g). All property sale motions are set before the undersigned pursuant to that grant of consent. Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2001(a), realty in the possession of an appointed receiver is subject to a public sale process, “upon such terms and conditions as the court directs.” 28 U.S.C. § 2002 further requires that notice be published once a week for at least four weeks prior to the sale in at least one newspaper regularly issued and of general circulation in the county, state, or judicial district where the realty is located. The purpose of such notice “is to inform the public of the kind and condition of the property to be sold, the time, the place, and the terms of the sale. It is to secure bidders and prevent the sacrifice of the property.” Breeding Motor Freight Lines v. R.F.C., 172 F.2d 416, 422 (10th Cir. 1949). Therefore, the safeguards of notice and opportunity to submit overbids help to ensure that the sale is able to fetch the best price possible, which is consistent with the principle that “a primary purpose of equity receiverships is to promote orderly and efficient administration of the estate by the district court for the benefit of creditors.” Hardy, 803 F.2d at 1038. See also United States v. Grable, 25 F.3d 298, 303 (6th Cir. 1994) (noting that “the intent of” the requirement in 28 U.S.C. § 2001 that property be sold in the county in which the land is situated is “to bring a better price at the sale”). The Receiver filed a Motion for Approval of Sale of Crown Point Property (the “Crown Point Motion”) on May 11, 2020. ECF No. 318. The motion concerns one of the real properties within the receivership estate, a former Surf Rider Pizza restaurant location (take-out and delivery only), located at 3445-3453 Ingraham Street, San Diego, California (the “Crown Point Property”). See ECF No. 318-1 at 5; ECF No. 76-2 at 4 (listing the Crown Point Property in the Preliminary Real Estate and Liquor License Asset Schedule filed on October 3, 2019). At the time the motion was filed, the intended buyer of the Crown Point Property was Greg R. Velasquez and Cynthia L. Velasquez, as Trustees of the C & G Velasquez Family Trust, Under Declaration of Trust dated October 19, 2005, and the intended sale price was $525,000. ECF No 318-1 at 7-8. In the motion, the Receiver proposed compliance with 28 U.S.C. §§ 2001 and 2002 by publishing notice in the San Diego Union- Tribune once a week for four weeks of a public auction for the property on June 11, 2020. Id. at 12. Potential bidders were invited to qualify for the auction by submitting a signed purchase and sale agreement, an earnest money deposit of $27,500, and proof of funds by June 8, 2020. Id. The Court set a deadline of May 28, 2020 to file any response in opposition to the Crown Point Motion, and ordered the Receiver to file a notice of non-receipt of overbids if no qualified overbids were received by June 8, 2020. ECF No. 320. No opposition to the Crown Point Motion was filed. However, on June 10, 2020, the Receiver filed a Notice of Receipt of Qualified Overbids, reporting that two qualified overbids were received for the Crown Point Property. ECF No. 327. The Receiver, through her broker, obtained the consent of the original buyer and each of the qualified overbidders to conduct the live auction via videoconference on June 11, 2020. Id. On June 15, 2020, the Receiver filed a Notice of Results of Auction for Crown Point Property and Request to Approve Sale to Winning Bidder. ECF No. 334 (“Notice of Results”). In the Notice of Results, the Receiver requests that the Court approve the sale of the Crown Point Property to the winning bidder, Quinn Myers and Jacob Spitzlberger, and also to approve the sale of the property to the back-up bidder RSB Property Investors, LLC in the event the winning bidder does not close the sale for any reason. Id. at 2-3. The winning bidder submitted a bid of $695,000 for the property, while the back-up bidder submitted the second-highest bid of $680,000. Id. Other than approval of the sale to the winning bidder (and the back-up bidder if the sale falls through)1 at a new sale price, all other relief requested in the Crown Point Property Motion, including authority to pay off the mortgage on the property and pay the costs of sale from the sale proceeds, remains the same. Id. at 3. Being fully advised and noting the lack of opposition to the Crown Point Motion, the Court will GRANT (1) the request to approve the sale of the Crown Point Property to the winning bidder; (2) the request to approve the sale of the Crown Point Property to the back-up bidder if the winning bidder does not close the sale for any reason; and (3) all relief requested in the Crown Point Motion, other than the request to approve the sale to the former buyer at the sale price of $525,000. That portion of the Crown Poi

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