Posted on 03/29/2008 12:17:37 PM PDT by Born Conservative
Most of $1.34M Cornerstone debt to go unpaid Creditors to get little, nothing from Kanjorski family bankrupcy. Case to be closed.
WILKES-BARRE – After more than a year in the hands of a court-appointed trustee, the bankruptcy case of Cornerstone Technologies is nearing an end. And, creditors seeking a portion of $1.34 million they say they’re owed will receive little or nothing.
The research company, owned by the daughter and four nephews of U.S. Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke, was to use water-jet technology capable of pulverizing materials and minerals into microscopic pieces that could be used in high technology applications. Funded with $9.2 million in federal defense earmarks secured by the congressman, the company halted operations in 2003. Company officials filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy Sept. 26, 2006 with Cornerstone reporting $14,100 in assets compared with $1.34 million in debt, according to bankruptcy court records.
The case’s court file shows no activity since March 7, 2007.
On Friday, attorney Robert P. Sheils Jr., the court-appointed trustee overseeing the proceedings, said the case will likely be closed by the end of next week.
Attorney John H. Doran, who represents Cornerstone Technologies in the bankruptcy proceedings, said his colleague gave creditors adequate time to present information. He said “there are just no assets available” to disburse.
“I see no reason at this point that I can see anybody getting two cents,” Doran said. “I can’t see how any of that can be paid,” he said of the more than $1 million in creditor filings.
Sheils agreed and said “we looked inside and out on this thing and there’s just not anything that has any apparent value worth liquidating.”
Sheils said on Monday he’ll likely file an abandonment report for the property, which he said would cost more to auction than he’d get. Following that he’ll file a no-distribution report, which would be the final step before the bankruptcy court closes the case.
Doran did not say whether the closing of the case would also mean the end of Cornerstone Technologies, which he said still exists.
“It hasn’t been extinguished, it’s just not functioning,” Doran said.
Questions posed to Kanjorski, through his press liaison in Washington, D.C., were not answered. Though the congressman did not own the company, he played a vital role in securing federal contracts and grants.
Five members of his family owned a significant part of the company. KOR Holdings, which owned 60 percent of Cornerstone, is owned by Kanjorski’s daughter Nancy and four of his nephews, Peter, Paul Eric, Russell and Mark.
Peter Kanjorski, who served as the chief executive officer of Cornerstone, personally owned another 20 percent of the company. The remaining 20 percent was owned by Bruce Conrad, a former Cornerstone employee who lives in Weatherly.
A message left at Peter Kanjorski’s law office in Nanticoke was not returned. Efforts to reach Paul Eric and Nancy Kanjorski were unsuccessful. Russell Kanjorski, contacted at his place of employment in Colorado, declined to discuss the Cornerstone matter.
Founded in 1998, Cornerstone was once touted as a leader in developing a cutting-edge technology that would bring high-paying jobs to the region. It operated in a leased Plains Township facility before closing its doors in 2003 and moving machinery and equipment into a parking garage of a Nanticoke bowling alley.
Steve Sitar, an auctioneer hired by Sheils to inventory and appraise assets, said he found barrels of graphite, some office equipment and a couple of pieces of small machinery.
Conrad on Friday laughed when told there were minimal assets found. He wondered where two milling machines, developed using U.S. Navy funding, were. Sitar said he did not see them.
Conrad said the ending to the tale was not the one he envisioned when he signed on a decade ago. He said the technology was “sound” and there were investors ready to pony up millions of dollars. Poor management and greed ruined the fairy tale, he said.
Conrad pinned the blame squarely on the congressman’s involvement in the company.
“The moment we had a greedy congressman trying to stuff his pockets with money we were through,” Conrad said. “If your only principle in business is greed, your business will fail.”
Throw the jerk out. He has a good guy running against him in the primary.
Something tells me that the daughter and nephews of the congressman did not invent this technology and perhaps knew little about it.
“The moment we had a greedy congressman trying to stuff his pockets with money we were through,” Conrad said. “If your only principle in business is greed, your business will fail.”
Perhaps the congressman's family were able to get control of the company when the congressman came up with the funding.
There, I fixed it for you.
Bingo! Check out this article: http://tinyurl.com/38dd5l
What else is new?
Toss out Murtha and Mollihan too. Do they ALL do this or just the Democrats? Secure contracts and rip off taxpayers for “companies” run by family and close friends. Or is it only Democrats? There are few Republican congressmen in office in my area and most of them only last a couple of elections before being uprooted, so I don’t know if they do the same thing in areas where they are as entrenched as the Democrats. Just curious...
I think “Mayor Lou” has a good chance of doing that this time.
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