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Did Canyon's Lawyers at Dickinson Wright Collude With a Court-Appointed Receiver to Get a Borrower's Bankruptcy Proceeding Dismissed?
Did Dickinson Wright CEO Michael Hammer Secretly Meet With and Co-Opt A Receiver Before A Critical Bankruptcy Proceeding?
The Court Appointed Receiver was Matthew Mason from McKinley Inc.
It Was Learned Five Months After the Borrower's Chapter 11 Filing Was Dismissed that Dickinson Attorney, Ben Dolan, Had Secretly Summoned the Receiver, Matthew Mason, to Prepare for the September 13, 2017 Bankruptcy Hearing at Dickinson Wright's Offices
J. Benjamin Dolan
Dickinson Wright Lawyer
The Receiver, Matthew Mason Confirmed That He "will be with Ben [Dolan] tomorrow afternoon prepping for the hearing."
Dickinson Wright CEO, Michael Hammer, and Matthew Mason, the Receiver, Were Both Sent an Email with a Link to Battle Songs from Canyon's Co-Head of Real Estate, Maria Stamolis
Would a Legitimate Lender Send "Pre-Mission Songs for Combat Operations" Before Their Borrower's Chapter 11 Proceeding, When Their Borrower Was Simply Trying to Get New Financing to Finish Their Project and Repay Their Loan to Canyon?
It Should Be Noted Too That Michael C. Hammer Handled the Majority of the Oral Arguments for Canyon Partners in the Bankruptcy Proceeding, Which Would Seem to Indicate That Michael Hammer Attended the Secret Prep Session(s) with the Receiver.
Years Later in His Deposition in a Related Matter, Matthew Mason, the Receiver, Admitted He Prepared His Bankruptcy Court Testimony at Dickinson's Offices
Matthew Mason, the Receiver, Remembered "Some Dickinson Attorneys" at the Secret Prep Session
It is noted too that based on other emails from later dates, it appears that Matthew Mason may have secretly gone to Dickinson Wright's offices to prepare bankruptcy court testimony against the borrower on multiple occasions.
If There Is Any Doubt That the Receiver Was Biased, Acted in Bad Faith and Breached its Fiduciary Duty to the Borrower, When the Bankruptcy Was Dismissed, the Receiver's CEO at McKinley Inc., Albert Berriz, and His Employees Were Celebrating!
It Was Also Discovered After the Bankruptcy Dismissal that Matthew Mason, the Receiver, Had Told Canyon that "I am at your service for whatever you need."
It Was Later Discovered Too that Matthew Mason, the Receiver, Had Been Inviting Canyon Personnel to University of Michigan Football Games
The evidence shows that the Receiver bought gifts for and socialized with Canyon Partners' employees and their attorneys, including Janine Getler from New York, and had dozens if not hundreds of calls and meetings with Canyon's employees and their attorneys at Dickinson Wright.
On the other hand, the Receiver refused to ever meet with the 17-year property owner whose attempt to regain control of their property through a Chapter 11 filing was dismissed following the collusion between Dickinson Wright, Canyon Partners, McKinley Inc. and their contractor, O'Brien Construction.
The United States Bankruptcy Court regularly sees trustees, which are akin to receivers. Those trustees truly act as neutrals so the bankruptcy court had no reason to believe that Canyon Partners and Dickinson Wright had co-opted and colluded with the receiver to manipulate the bankruptcy court proceedings.
Dickinson Wright Was Paid Millions to Pull Off the Bankruptcy Dismissal and Foreclosure of the George Property
Note: Only some of the checks paid to Dickinson Wright are shown above
After The Secret Meeting with the Receiver at Dickinson’s offices, Canyon's Lawyer Michael Hammer told a Series of Major Lies to Judge Thomas Tucker in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court
To Overstate the Property's Debt to Cause Canyon's Borrower's Bankruptcy to be Dismissed, Dickinson Wright CEO Michael Hammer Blatantly Lied When He Told the U.S. Bankruptcy Court There Were 30 Claims of Lien Worth $9.4 Million
Hammer said, “There are 30 claims of lien filed in this case totaling 9.4 million dollars"
In actuality, there were approximately 8 liens totaling $2.15 million. See amounts in blue on Canyon’s Exhibit F to see the breakdown of the $7.5 Million Overstatement!
The borrower testified, “At the end of the day these mechanic’s liens, you know, will be $2,144,000.” Canyon’s borrower was able to predict the total very accurately as the actual amount later paid was $2,158,306.
Yet, Michael Hammer Repeated His $7.5 Million Overstatement Many Times to Get the Bankruptcy Dismissed. He even said repeatedly the Borrower "stiffed" the lien claimants for this money!
7 Months After Getting the Borrower's Bankruptcy Dismissed, Hammer’s Partner, Ben Dolan, Emailed The Truth about the Quandel lien (which was $6 million of the $9.7 million on their Exhibit F:
Dolan wrote, “As we believe Quandel’s lien is overstated substantially, we plan to file a motion – potentially even yet today – to require Quandel to amend its lien or for an order discharging its lien entirely.”
So after telling the bankruptcy court that the Quandel lien was $5,968,282 (see Exhibit F above), Hammer's partner, Dolan, said it was overstated substantially and should be discharged entirely! Later Canyon agreed to pay $600,000 to Quandel instead of the nearly $6 Million that Hammer told the bankruptcy court.
To Get This Canyon Borrower's Bankruptcy Dismissed, Dickinson CEO Michael Hammer Blatantly Lied to the US Bankruptcy Court that 30 Apartment Units Were Ready for Occupancy When None Were Ready!
On September 13, 2017, in the United States Bankruptcy Court, Michael Hammer blatantly lied by misrepresenting the construction progress made by the receiver, McKinley Inc, whose representative, Matthew Mason, had secretly met with Dickinson attorneys before the bankruptcy hearings.
On September 13, 2017, Hammer blatantly lied when he told the Bankruptcy Court: “…they talk about the Receiver has done nothing. Well, it’s hard to believe nothing when they have . . . 30 [apartment] units ready to deliver right at this moment.”
