Indigence plea: Halsey Minor's assets don't include cash
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Minor vows that his appeal will move forward.file photo by Jay Kuhlmann
Halsey Minor has filed an "affidavit of indigence" in a Georgia court, another sign of the embattled millionaire's dwindling fortune. But has he really gone the way of squatters camping in his unfinished Landmark hotel? He claims otherwise.
"It's liquid securities, not a net worth test," Minor says in an email. "Many, many assets don't count including private stock, real estate, etc."
Indeed, Minor still holds positions in several high-tech companies, as well as valuable real estate, including a pair of California mansions, a historic Williamsburg estate, and a sprawling farm right here in western Albemarle. Yet he found himself unable to post an eight-figure bond to keep alive his appeal of a recent ruling that would strip him of his unfinished hotel on the Downtown Mall.
"Who in the world now right now has $10 million cash?" asks Minor. "The United States of America almost didn't have $10 million in cash."
Hook legal analyst David Heilberg says that Minor's indigence plea is an effort to persuade the court to waive its bond requirement. The document appears, says Heilberg, to have been drafted by a lawyer but personally submitted to show the court that Minor's cash-strapped, an effort that would be undercut with a lawyer's signature.
"You can't claim you're indigent when you have a lawyer," says Heilberg. "That's just bad form."
Of course, there could be other reasons why Minor might avoid lawyers– or visa versa. With just one firm, he has rung up unpaid legal bills of over $5 million.
The news that Minor calls himself indigent provokes no teardrops from Lee Danielson, the former Landmark developer who has battled Minor in lawsuits in two states.
Says Danielson: "It couldn't happen to a nicer guy."
21 comments
It would be some much better if Mr. Minor would walk away and allow someone else to buy it and do anything else. Alas that seems unlikely.
Well, it sounds like the court will take the hotel away from him. This "indigence" plea is laughable and based on his illiquid assets, the judge should expedite his plea right into the garbage can.
Don't think Minor's high-tech investments aren't worth anything of substance. He owns a small piece of Paxfire which was already worth nearly nothing, and is now being sued in a class-action suit. He also owns most of Minor Studios which has yet to take off in any form.
He sold all his ownership of his most valuable asset which was OpenDNS back in 2009 and 2010.
He could SELL his stock and assets to liquidate them. I so hope this court laughs in his face. Totally agree with Danielson, though I would never call Minor nice.
He may not yet be destitute, but that's his karma and he'll get there soon enough. Give him a few more years and he'll be reduced to couch surfing until he runs out of friends and relatives. It's fascinating to see rich people in the death spiral and be helpless against their own self destructive behaviors, sort of like the Air France pilots 2 years ago who flew a perfectly good airplane into the ocean because they were stuck in a mental feedback loop.
"17. I currently have less than 1% of the cash that would be required to post the bond, and I do not presently own any publicly traded securities". That about says it all, according to the filing. I think when this is all said and done, HM will either end up in jail, on the lamb, or perhaps suffer a personal tragedy. Anyone familiar with HM understands what a corrosive effect he and his minions have had on anything they come into contact with. I'd be curious if Heilburg, the legal expert, has any insight into any possible criminal charges that may be forthcoming. The general consensus among informed people is that he fraudulently manipulated his loan docs, mortgages, etc, to pull out ever more cash. He also had his flunky friends submit a fraudulent appraisal for Carter's Grove. Add to that the fact that he has, on almost every occasion, violated the doctrine of "clean hands" by purposefully initiating a host of law suits, all of which were aimed at stalling the inevitable. Now it's time to find out where he stashed whatever cash he has left (my guess is Argentina).
TH III;
You're on target, but my belief is he'll play it out until he burns through any reserve cash he may have obtained through fraudulent conversion, etc. Wonder how much cash the former empress of Albemarle House managed to hide...
Does this make Mrs. Kluge fall into the indegent class?
Lam. It's: "On the lam..."
Ok, "lam" it is. My grammar is nowhere near as atrocious as HM's, at least....
He's a lot of things, but indigent ain't one of em.
Gilligan: 'On the lam' is an idiom. Just like you. Gilligan? GILLIGAN!
I love how that idiot Minor basically brags to Hawes about how he actually does have a high net worth, which obviously contradicts his affidavit of indigence, in which he is trying to show the court that, well, he is indigent...Surely the judge will see that HM's real estate and worthless private stock in Paxfire (Class Action lawsuit already filed), Atmosphir (ersatz ripoff of Second Life, not worth squat), etc, is considered by Minor to demonstrate his astounding net worth. All the judge has to do is read this article, then expedite this affidavit into the trash heap. This is better than reality TV!
Thurston Howell III,
HM claims that stocks and real estate holdings aren't taken into consideration when trying to obtain the bond that he is seeking. So it is still possible for HM to be cash poor and asset rich. The same situation happened to Elon Musk during the latter's divorce trial.
Sure but if HM really had any.assets he could surely get a bank to underwrite the financing needed to post the bond. But, as everyone knows he has fraudulantly placed junior liens on his illiquid assets and his private stock holdings are worth next to nothing. So once again Halsey is acting in bad faith. Per the affidavit none of bond financing companies would touch him. How, therefore can he continue to brag about his net worth. Everything he does is built around deception and rhetoric (big talk) .
Thurston,
I suspect that you are correct. Possibly HM sees this route as being the least expensive and if his bid fails he can always try sell some of his real estate property or leverage the real estate property even further and get a bank loan. It's difficult to fathom how he could have blown through so much money in such a relatively short period of time.
“I've been rich and I've been poor; Believe me, honey, rich is better.”
My Darling Thurston its in poor taste to speak ill of your fellow millionaire friends! LOL Lovely does not like those that cast stones without due process; unless, of course, you have inside information to his fraudulent manipulation of said documents and appraisal. Lovey wants to hear all about it, because you seem so knowledgable from your "well informed friends." Fraud is a mighty big word to throw around!
Mrs Klugy, Kluegy, Klugey, whatever and her hubby make 22,000 a month, not exactly chump change. The bad part is Donald bought the farm as a tax right off as most hobby farmers do. So in essence we're paying for her destition.
Lovey Howell-------FRAUD IS A BIG WORD AND THAT IS JUST WHAT MINOR HAS BEEN DOING FOR THE PAST FOUR YEARS.....
Tax Expert - Lovey says Poo Poo to you - has Mr. Minor been charged with fraud? I'm in no way defending him, don't know him, etc., but NO ONE should be so judgmental. I'm sure Tax Expert, you have fudged some numbers in the past.....whoops, see how the judgement starts.....I could call you a FRAUD as well without any proof. That's my point. Let the courts decide what, how, when, where and IF Mr. Minor has committed anything. I was inquiring to what inside information Mr. Howell has to prove his accusations of alledged fraud. Mr. Howell - inquiring minds want to know.......whatcha got??!!
Additionally, Tax Expert, no need to yell at me with your ALL CAPS.