Regatta promoter has 60 days to give info to bankruptcy court
The organizer of the EQT Three Rivers Regatta has been ordered by a bankruptcy judge to provide more detailed financial information about his failed events promotion company.
That was the takeaway after a meeting of creditors at the Frick Building in Downtown Monday, where LionHeart Event Group owner Derek Weber made a public appearance after postponing the meeting multiple times and failing to show for a January date.
“I gave 60 days,” federal bankruptcy trustee Rosemary
Crawford said Tuesday about Mr. Weber’s deadline to provide a more detailed accounting of his business from 2016 to 2019.
Mr. Weber could not be reached for comment.
Mr. Weber’s attorney Albert Veverka declined to comment on the creditors’ meeting.
An amended financial statement filed Friday shows LionHeart’s gross revenue at $543,585 from January 2019; just under $1.2 million in 2018; and $879,497 in 2017.
A list of payments made by LionHeart in the 90 days before Mr. Weber filed bankruptcy
includes $33,000 in July 2019 to the Melbourne, Fla.-based Sandsational Sand Sculpting company, a $12,500 board royalty payment to the EQT Three Rivers board that same month; and a $10,000 payment to the Carrolltown, Pa.-based Starfire Corp. fireworks company in June 2019, among other smaller payments.
The EQT Three Rivers Regatta, a Pittsburgh staple since 1978, was canceled July 30 by its governing nonprofit board after LionHeart failed to get a city permit or liability insurance for the event while also failing to pay vendors for past services.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporting revealed that LionHeart’s financial issues began snowballing in 2017.
LionHeart is pursuing liquidation under Chapter 7 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, under which the trustee could sell its assets to satisfy creditors.
However, court papers filed in the fall suggest that there may not be much to liquidate.
They show claims against LionHeart totaling $744,527, versus personal property owned by the firm totaling just $2,265, including lumber, T-shirts, hats, children’s games, banners, inflatable chairs, a laptop, a printer, a generator and various pieces of hardware — but no cash.
Creditors and amounts owed by LionHeart, as of October, included: EQT Corp., $270,000; Starfire Corp., $126,451 (for fireworks); Alcosan, $35,000; The Allegheny County sheriff’s office, $32,978; The city of Pittsburgh Department of Finance, $19,974; Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, $15,000; The Pittsburgh Three Rivers Regatta Inc., amount unknown.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is also listed as a creditor, owed $7,500 for “marketing,” according to court filings.
Friday’s financial filing shows that a lawsuit filed against LionHeart by the Allegheny County sheriff’s office in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas for security services is still pending.
The Pittsburgh Bureau of
Police, which reported that it is owed $28,000 for security provided in 2017 and 2018, undertook a criminal investigation of the events leading up to the regatta cancellation.
In October, city of Pittsburgh responses to a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette right-toknow request revealed that there is a grand jury investigation into the regatta’s collapse.
The city refused to release requested records or to provide any information on whether the grand jury is being run by county, state or federal prosecutors. The Allegheny County district attorney’s office said then that it is not conducting any such investigation, while the state Office of the Attorney General and the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania declined comment.
Pittsburgh Three Rivers Regatta Inc.’s last available IRS filing indicated that it had, as of Sept. 30, 2018, about $34,226 in net assets. Attempts to get comment from representatives of the nonprofit on Monday were not successful.