Tom Martino has filed to convert his Bankruptcy from Chapter 7 to Chapter 11...

[Rob]

Tom Martino has filed to convert his Bankruptcy from Chapter 7 to Chapter 11...

From the Denver Business Journal:

http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/ne...ruptcy-to.html

“Troubleshooter” Tom Martino has filed a motion in bankruptcy court to convert his Chapter 7 bankruptcy to Chapter 11.
“The debtor now believes that conversion of the within case from Chapter 7 to Chapter 11 would be in the best interests of the debtor and the estate, especially the debtor’s creditors,” according to a filing Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Colorado.
Martino had filed a motion in July to delay the “discharge order” in his Chapter 7 bankruptcy to Oct. 5 so that he could possibly pursue Chapter 11.
The discharge order in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy releases the debtor from personal liability from certain specified types of debt.
Because the trustee didn’t file anything to protest a delay, the court gave Martino until Friday to file to convert the case to a Chapter 11, according to bankruptcy attorney Arthur Lindquist-Kleissler, founder of Denver-based Lindquist-Kleissler & Co LLC, who is serving as co-counsel on the case with attorney Stephen Berken.
“Our feeling was that self-direction [under Chapter 11] would allow us to move faster to get money to creditors sooner rather than later,” Lindquist-Kleissler said.
Chapter 7 bankruptcy involves the liquidation of a business or personal assets. Under Chapter 7, a trustee is appointed to oversee the sale of all assets, which are distributed to creditors who are repaid at least some of what they’re owed.
Chapter 11 bankruptcies are more complex and are most often used by businesses to restructure their debts so they can repay them.
Martino has claimed that Chapter 7 trustee Simon Rodriguez isn’t trying to settle his case.

In an August interview with the Denver Business Journal, Berken said the motion to delay the Chapter 7 discharge order was filed mainly “to get the trustee to do his job. Stop making meetings and canceling the night before. I can’t move the trustee to settle. That’s all Tom wants to do is to get the trustee to settle.”
Martino sued Rodriguez and three of his creditors in December 2011, claiming that Rodriguez was dragging out the case and that the creditors’ claims of fraud against him were “unsupported and spurious,” according to court filings.
In a ruling April 26, a judge dismissed Martino’s case against Rodriguez.
Martino filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on Sept. 2, 2011, listing assets of $1.37 million and liabilities of $78.6 million. Martino later amended the bankruptcy filing on Oct. 1, 2011, listing total assets of $2.3 million and liabilities of $46.4 million.
Martino has appeared on radio and TV talking about consumer issues for many years and operates the Troubleshooter.com website.