Stanley Springel, the court-appointed trustee in the ongoing bankruptcy trial of Jeffrey Prosser, former owner and CEO of Innovative Telephone, has sued eight individuals and firms for about $2.2 million he says were paid improperly to them.
In legal circles, this is call a "claw back." The same maneuver is underway — at a far higher dollar volume – in the Bernie Madoff proceedings. Those who actually wound up with more money than they invested – often salesmen for Madoff – are subject to such suits.
The attorney filing the eight Prosser-related cases is Benjamin A. Currence of St. Thomas, local counsel for Springel. The improper payments were said to have been made by the Innovative Communication Corporation, then Prosser’s holding company.
The court filing said that Prosser, soon after litigation was filed against him, "began improperly and fraudulently liquidating the capital of New ICC for his own personal benefit and for the personal benefit of insiders, friends and family members."
The largest of the payments was to the Nebraska accounting firm of Michael Prosser, Jeffrey’s brother, for $829,821.
Another $519,551 went to another Nebraska firm, Raynor, Rensch & Pfeiffer; John Raynor was for years a member of various Prosser boards of directors.
Sir Ronald Sanders, the former Carribean diplomat and one-time Prosser board member, now living in London, got $370,000 – including, for a while, $25,000-a-month payments.
The Hotel Plaza Athénée in New York received $256,833. This is not the Plaza – the legendary five-star hotel on Fifth Avenue – it is a nearby four-star establishment.
Paul Arnold Jr. and his St. Croix firm, PACO Consulting, received $150,000.
Campbell & Levine, Pittsburgh attorneys, were listed at $73,557.
Trump International Golf Clubs in Florida rounded out the set at $48,720.
While the prospect of another $2.2 million for the creditors surely is attractive to them, the other prospect – half a dozen new litigants, each with a set of lawyers – may further delay this already three-and-half-year-old litigation.