Posted on 02/21/2011 6:29:04 PM PST by Alex Murphy
The Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January after being sued with more than a dozen civil fraud lawsuits over the way it handled clergy sex abuse cases.
In recent developments, an alleged money laundering scheme that may have moved as much as $130 million off the books of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee in efforts to prevent the church from paying victims of sex abuse may result in the deposition of New York Archbishop Timothy Nolan. In a bankruptcy hearing, the Assistant US Trustee was told that $75 million was moved in 2005, and $55 million was moved two years later in 2007. The Archdiocese chief financial officer said in court that he could not account for the missing money.
Jeffrey Anderson, the lawyer representing families of the victims of the abuse by the priests, has accused the archdiocese of playing a shell game while Archbishop Nolan was in charge, hiding funds so that the church cannot pay his clients. Nolan was Archbishop in Milwaukee from 2002 to 2009.
In its bankruptcy filing, the Archdiocese listed $40.7 million in assets and $24 million in liabilities. These liabilities include $13.7 million in health care plans for retired priests. According to the church, much of its assets are in the form of trusts and restricted accounts which means that it is left with only about $7 million that can be used to settle the lawsuits and pay compensations to victims. However, the victims are set to challenge this statement in court.
According to the Archdiocese, filing for bankruptcy was the best and most equitable way to compensate victims while at the same time maintaining the missions of the church.
But Anderson claims that the church set up the cemetery fund in 2007 and then after a Wisconsin court allowed victims to sue the church for fraud, it transferred $55 million into the fund. Up till now, the courts have prevented the Archdiocese from drawing from insurance to pay for settlements because the case is about fraud, not accidents. However, the church is appealing this decision at the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Archbishop Nolan explained that the $55 million is part of the cemetery trust and protected by the state therefore it was placed back into the fund. On the other hand, the $75 million belonged to the parishes and was simply returned to them.
Archbishop Nolan has also said he is fully committed to cooperating with law enforcement officers in this matter.
Jeffrey Anderson, the lawyer representing families of the victims of the abuse by the priests, has accused the archdiocese of playing a shell game while Archbishop Nolan was in charge, hiding funds so that the church cannot pay his clients. Nolan was Archbishop in Milwaukee from 2002 to 2009....
....Archbishop Nolan explained that the $55 million is part of the cemetery trust and protected by the state therefore it was placed back into the fund. On the other hand, the $75 million belonged to the parishes and was simply returned to them.
It is not money laundering if you know where the money came from and where it went.
That said, I wouldnt be surprised to learn of financial shenanigans at the Arch. Otoh, I wouldn't expect a pack of moron lawyers in Tampa to uncover it, if it did exist.
I always accept statements of tort lawyers as the unvarnished truth.
So who is ‘Archbishop Timothy Nolan’, anyhow?
“So who is ‘Archbishop Timothy Nolan’, anyhow?”
I have no idea. Do you suppose Archbishop Dolan would be required to respond to a summons made out to “Timothy Nolan”? :-)
I don’t see why Archbishop Dolan should answer for what Nolan did.
ROTFL! I just cut-and-pasted it from the source. I figured you all would get a good laugh out of it!
That and anything from ABCNOBCBSAPTIMENEWSEEEKREUTERSANYTHINGFORIGNANDTHECOMICBOOKTHATSHALNOTBENAMED
/S
Which is apparently so well-read in Catholic circles, that amateur Catholic apologists can immediately recognize quotations without hesistation!
I’ve read most of them, kind of amazed that anyone could take him or his work as anything but sad. They are kind of entertaining in their own way.
I think I have read maybe two, at most, in my entire life. Definitely sad. I honestly don't get the "entertaining" part.
LOL! The reporter (and you by copying and posting it) got the Archbishop’s name wrong.
Hahahahahh
Think theater of the absurd, Keith Olbermann or a train wreck...maybe entertaining was a poor word choice.
I also like the way you worded your own headline so that there was confusion between “ousted” and “asked to submit a deposition.”
Also, for the record:
The archdiocese of Milwaukee is not being sued for anything which took place during Dolan’s tenure. Or Nolan’s. Archbishop and erstwhile satanic sodomist Rembert Weakland preceded him, establishing a lavendar mafia.
As evil as Weakland is, though, I can’t say I’m real fond of lawyers determining that abuse victims deserve multi-million-dollar payouts (minue 70% lawyers’ fees), and screeching to the news media if the church doesn’t pass on the debt to local parishes, hospitals, and inner-city elementary schools. Weakland and several of his priests deserve to rot in prison and victims should get nice, six-figured payouts to compensate for their losses, but this “Yee-hah! Jackpot! We found another victim” crap has to end.
Of course there is no Archbishop Timothy NOLAN. The Archbishop of New York who was formerly Archbishop of Milwaukee is Timothy DOLAN. One must wonder if these lawyers filed suit against the non-existent Nolan.
If the bankruptcy filing was in January, 2011, it must have been on Archbishop Listecki’s watch since Archbishop had lkiong since been installed in New York.
I am afraid that the OP is a little single minded.
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