Letter(email) to Honorable Paul W. Bonapfel -2- 23-18
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THE UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA ATLANTA DIVISION CLAUDIO PABLO AVENDANO, CASE NO. 15-64523-PWB
Honorable Paul W. Bonapfel, I wanted to bring to your attention, the conduct of the Trustee in my case. At the conversion hearing, we were told that the Neil Gordon was best suited to deal with the proper administration of this case. My Chapter 13 was not approved, and I was prevented from selling proprty to pay my creditors. At that hearing, and since, I have repeatedly tried to have sales we had pending in Chile sold to pay obligations, only to be ignored. The Court understood this was a surplus case, and I that had sufficient assets ready for sale to pay my obligations. That my only reasons to bring this into bankruptcy was to continue my business and pay obligations. Instead the Trustee put into motion events, that disrupted my tenants businesses, and evicted them, my business was given away, and my real estate was sold for far under market value. I was wrongfully evicted, by the new buyers, and then intimidated to the point of having to leave town, and hide. In a memorandum to this court, I had pointed out the potential collusion for a straw sale via the Trustee. I also noted political activity I was involved with that may be cause of concern that the creditors may have political motivations, and that this court could be used as a tool for intimidation. When attorney Valdejulli withdrew, I was lead to believe this was temporary, and only for the purpose to negotiate a settlement with Creditors. My attorney refused to return to the case. I filed again (pro se) to have the Chapter 13 reinstated, and was denied. In January 2017, I found another attorney. This attorney wanted to convert this case to a Chapter 11, but David Weidenbaum said he would object to any conversion. This attorney then decided not to take the case. I would continue to try to get the Trustee to attend to the sales we had pending in Chile, with no response. I found another attorney, Ted Stapleton (August 2017). In hope that he may be able to establish what the debt was, and conduct these sales through the Trustee. I did not have the funds to pay for him to file an appearance in the case, only to communicate with the Trustee. After considerable effort, my attorney was told by the Trustee, he would no longer communicate with him. The value of the estate far exceeds the amount of either the previous debt or the current unknown liability. The Trustee has demonstrated a total disregard for what had been my estate by either simply abandoning it, or selling at far below market values. The property in Chile has a far greater value than I had earlier believed. The potential value is over 3 million dollars, if sold in a proper manner. The Trustee has been made aware of this by his attorneys in Chile. I fear the Trustee is ignoring the sales we have presented because he wishes to increase administrative costs, and then to auction the property for a far lower price than it’s real value. The Trustees latest activity occurred after being given the authority to sell over a year and a half ago. Property that, in all this time, could well have been advertised, and sold by more conventional means. October 10, 2017 Sale of 2981 Andy Mountain Road proceeds $13,252.00 I had paid $34,000.00 for this property, and spent at least that much in repairs. It had been in a fire, we framed the areas that had fire damage, began plumbing, and put a roof on it. It has been a year and half since the trustee had authority to sell this property. In all this time, he could have placed it for sale with a realtor, advertised it, and paid a 10% commission, and gotten a far more realistic price. He paid his recommended farm equipment auctioneer $2,700.00. I do not wish to imagine what the Trustee’s administrative fees must be on just this sale, they must be well over the amount of the proceeds of the auction. After all it took him a year and a half to get this done. In fact, a year and a half ago, the Trustee could have sold the properties we had for sale in Chile paid the creditors, and avoided the Liberty Road sale altogether. As well as avoided... the destruction of my business, the elimination of my only source of income, and the almost destitute state my son and I have found ourselves in. That alternate series of events would have put the Trustee out of work. With no debt he has no reason to continue. If this is the pattern the trustee follows, he will also give away the property in Chile for far below real values, and in a process that will only serve to elevate his administrative costs. In fact there is an incentive to hock this property for as little as possible. It is in the best interest of the Trustee to demonstrate the case was not a surplus, and with only enough assets to pay creditors, and just enough to pay his administrative costs. I also believe that this is not inadvertent on the part of the Trustee, this is willful activity. He is very purposeful, and is not one to make errors. The question may be more of motivation. As I pointed out in the memorandum I filed, is appears a punishment for that mentioned political activity. January 6, 2018 Neil Gordon, writes to Ted Stapleton to say that he will no longer communicate with my attorney. We can not get the Trustee to tell us what is owed, nor to sell properties in Chile to pay this now undefined obligation.
From: "Gordon, Neil C." <Neil.Gordon@AGG.com> Date: January 4, 2018 at 10:17:28 AM EST To: Theodore Stapleton <tstaple@tstaple.com> Cc: "Matthews, William D." <William.Matthews@AGG.com> Subject: Re: Claudio Avendano- case no. 15-64523 Ted, I am out of town until Tuesday. Have you filed an appearance for the debtor in this case? If so, I haven't seen it. When you do, please communicate with Bill Matthews. We have already spent an inordinate amount of time discussing the case with you in the expectation you would file an appearance. Accordingly, we will not respond further to you and will object to any BR 2004 exam requests. Feel free to fly to Santiago to take the examination of our special counsel to try and get an estimate of their fees should the court permit it. I am not going to provide estimates in a case this fluid just so the debtor can resume objecting to everything and running up even more fees. We will wait for the appearance and a solid, credible explanation of how a homeless debtor can payoff the creditors and the estate. Of course, you are free to contact counsel to the creditors or object to their claims once you make an appearance. I am not going to provide their asserted payoffs. They need to provide that to you directly. Neil In a recent conversation with David Wiedenbaum, I understood that he believed I acted on my own in the sales I conducted in Chile during the Chapter 13. That I had not provided documentation of these sales. This was quite the contrary, I was very public about these sales, posting all sales documents in real time to a website for my attorney to disseminate as required. All was done per my attorneys instructions. I had understood that my attorney, Vadejulli and I had complied with the Courts wishes. It was my understanding that the required documents for these sales were filed with the court. I have been making note of these problems, with the office of the Trustee in Washington, David Weidenbaum, and now with your office. It has been suggested to me by the Office of the Trustee, my County Council Woman, and others, to contact the media, and elected officials, and to bring public attention to this case. As you may know, I am a single father. At the time all this started my son was 10 years old. We have been through an unnecessary storm, that remains a torrent. We came to this Court for “protection”, and we found the far opposite, all instigated by this Trustee’s insistence to convert a working Chapter 13 to a Chapter 7. I had a good business established, with tenants who were also building their businesses. After the sale of the Liberty Road property, and because of the wrongful eviction, much of my personal belongings were kept by the new buyers. As you may recall the Trustee had objected to the Timmons Road exemption, which would have made matters far worse. His objection provided me with less time to move, and would have I given me no place to put over 7,200 sq/ft of business/personal furniture, customer storage items, inventory, and equipment that was abandoned by the Trustee. It is almost as if I have been condemned of a crime, and am now being punished. I now have no money to hire an attorney, have been forced to leave town, and it has been demonstrated that even an attorney is no solution. All I can do at this point is to, write to my congressmen, address the public and hope for a better outcome. I can also hope that in your position as Judge in this case you may find ways to a more reasonable outcome.
Sincerely, Claudio Avendano
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