In Year Before Post-Spill Bankruptcy, Freedom Industries Paid Out $6 Million To Old, New Owners

[hatrack]

EDIT

Freedom, which contaminated thousands of West Virginians' water with a chemical leak into the Elk River on Jan. 9, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Jan. 17. Under the bankruptcy code, Chapter 11 permits a company to reorganize and continue operating.

Three men identified as former owners of Freedom -- Dennis Farrell, Charles Herzing and William Tis -- all received at least $180,000 from Freedom in the year before the chemical leak. Farrell, who remains with Freedom but no longer is an owner, received more than $288,000 in 33 "withdrawals or distributions" from the company in the past year, according to bankruptcy filings. The last payment was made Jan. 8, the day before the leak was discovered.

Freedom gave Herzing more than $256,000, and gave his consulting firm, Useful Solutions Inc., another $157,000 in 2013. Tis got more than $180,000 from Freedom, and his consulting firm, Indigo Astoria, got more than $131,000. All of those payments are above and beyond the $15 million that Chemstream Holdings, Freedom's current owner, paid to acquire the company in December.

In addition to being listed as former owners, Farrell, Herzing and Tis are listed as Freedom's former president, vice president and secretary, respectively. They all were terminated from those positions on Dec. 6, as Freedom was changing ownership. The bankruptcy filing this week also reveals a web of payments and debts among Freedom and several companies with close affiliations.

The sole owner of Chemstream Holdings, and thus Freedom, is J. Clifford Forrest, who also is the founder and president of Rosebud Mining, a Pennsylvania-based coal company. Freedom paid Rosebud $30,000 in "reimbursement" on Jan. 8, the day before the leak, filings show.

EDIT

http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201402190087

[Gothmog]

1. These are preference payment

The owners will have to return these payments