Court file reveals claims of lying

unsealed complaint to the discharge of the bankruptcy of Bill Schwyhart, a high-profile real estate developer in Northwest Arkansas before the last recession, contends he and his wife lied about or failed to disclose their ownership in various business entities to defraud creditors and hide information about their finances.

In July, Schwyhart and his wife, Carolyn, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in Texas, claiming more than $90 million in debt.

The complaint, by creditor CHP LLC and filed in mid-January, was initially placed under seal since it contained information gained from access to confidential agreements signed in 2013 between Schwyhart and others. Earlier this month, a judge ordered the complaint unsealed.

In October, Judge Harlin Hale with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Northern District of Texas ruled that CHP and the trustee in Schwyhart’s bankruptcy case should have access to the confidential settlement but said they must keep the information under wraps. CHP and the trustee said they needed to see the set-

tlement since the deal could be an attempt to hide assets.

In the unsealed complaint, CHP contends the Schwyharts shifted assets secured through the confidential settlement agreements through “a web” of various entities and used that money for living expenses and other spending but denied knowledge of them in their bankruptcy filing. CHP also contended the Schwyharts deceived the court by not admitting they owned the house they lived in before moving to Texas.

During the Northwest Arkansas building boom, Schwyhart worked with late trucking magnate J.B. Hunt and Tim Graham on the Pinnacle Hills Promenade mall, which opened in 2006. After Hunt’s death in 2006, his widow, Johnelle Hunt, and Graham broke ties with Schwyhart. Schwyhart and longtime business partner Robert Thornton formed Pinnacle Investments LLC after the split.

According to CHP’s complaint, the confidential settlements detailed a deal with John P. Calamos of Naperville, Ill., and the chairman of financial company Calamos Asset Management. He became a partner with Schwyhart when Calamos’ Ajax merged with Pinnacle Air.

According to the complaint, in October of 2013 Calamos entered into a confidential settlement agreement that transferred $9.7 million to Schwyhart and Thornton, and some of their business entities. A second confidential agreement entered into the very same day transferred $3 million to Hunt and Graham and the rest went into accounts designated by Recipico Investments Strategic Fund I LLC. The filing argues Recipico, formed in Delaware in August 2011, was set up to funnel money back to Schwyhart and Thornton.

CHP sued in Benton County Circuit Court in May, claiming that Schwyhart and several John Doe defendants were ducking its collection efforts.