August 92000

VP Candidate

Lieberman Supported S. 625

Senator and vice-presidential

candidate Joseph Lieberman might have more in common with the

bankruptcy industry than previously thought. His constituents

live in Connecticut, but his political money center is in New

York City, where investors, insurers and accounting firms have

welcomed his support for issues like limits on lawsuits. The

senator has received large donations from the financial services

industry, which includes Citibank, the biggest bank supporter

of the bankruptcy bill. Lieberman voted for S. 625 while his

counterpart, Sen. Christopher Dodd (D), voted against the bill.

Campaign records show that nearly one of every

five of the $3.4 million for his senatorial campaign race is

from the financial industry; an industry that has often been

at odds with the Clinton-Gore administration on policies. Among

companies, New York-based financial giant Citicorp and its employees

were the single largest source of money for Lieberman, with

$59,296. New York City donors accounted for $421,260 of the

contributions, compared with $327,910 from those in Hartford,

Conn., according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive

Politics, which studies campaign finance. “It’s certainly not

a liberal Democrat’s profile…he’s not lacking for business support,

and has a strong emphasis on the financial sector,” said Larry

Makinson, head of the Center for Responsive Politics.

Fund raising in the financial sector usually

favors Republicans, but Lieberman’s success has been attributed

by insiders to the fact that he hails from Connecticut, which

is home to several insurance giants and many financial industry

executives who commute each day to New York, and that he was

one of four Senate Democrats to join Republicans in support

of limits on liability lawsuits. “He was very supportive of

product liability and legal reforms, as would be expected from

a senator from the insurance capital of American,” U.S. Chamber

of Commerce Spokesman Frank Coleman said. “He was a key player.”

California

Woman Indicted for Bankruptcy Fraud

A Westlake

Village, Calif., woman who deceived homeowners with financial

troubles into deeding their property to her was indicted on

nine counts of bankruptcy fraud and eight counts of mail fraud

in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California

on Thursday, according to a Department of Justice news release.

Charlene Kay Kalk obtained the deeds to properties with false

promises that she and her company, Densmore Investments, could

save properties form foreclosure and could preserve the homeowner’s

credit. But Kalk would only delay foreclosure on the properties

by filing fraudulent bankruptcies. She told homeowners with

financial difficulties that she would either make payments to

the mortgage holder or would renegotiate the terms and status

of the loan. 

Once the properties were deeded to Kalk, she

would rent the property back to the homeowners. While collecting

rent, she failed to make payments on the mortgage or negotiate

with the mortgageholder. After deeding fractionalized interests

in the properties to her multiple fictitious business names,

she would then file bankruptcies in the names of these businesses

to forestall foreclosures. This practice allowed her to stall

the foreclosure process and to continue collecting rental income

from the properties. Kalk faces a possible sentence of 85 years

in federal prison and fines of up to $4.25 million.

Carmike

Cinemas Files Chapter 11

Carmike Cinemas Inc. yesterday filed chapter 11 in the U.S.

Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware in Wilmington,

according to a NRC release. The Columbus, Ga.-based cinema is

the nation’s third-largest movie theater chain. It listed assets

of $841,178,000 and liabilities of $652,859,000, and its top

unsecured creditors include the Bank of New York (indenture

trustee), Wachovia Bank N.A. and Dreamworks. Carmike said it

would stop developing new theaters, curtail its theater renovations,

freeze expenditures and try to sell surplus assets. The bankruptcy

will not affect operations of Carmike's existing theaters, spokeswoman

Suzanne Brown said.

Coram

Healthcare and Coram Inc. File Chapter 11

 As part of its previously

announced effort to restructure its capital obligations, Coram

Healthcare Corp. and Coram Inc. yesterday filed chapter 11 in

the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, according

to a newswire report. The company elected to seek protection

in order to facilitate restructuring of its debt while continuing

to maintain normal business operations in all of its subsidiaries

and their branches. This step was taken with the full support

of the three lenders holding the company's principal debt instruments.

Denver-based Coram Healthcare provides home infusion therapies

and support for clinical trials, medical product development

and medical informatics. Coram Healthcare Corp. and Coram Inc.

are the parent holding companies of the operating subsidiaries,

including all branch offices, collectively and commonly known

as Coram Healthcare. Because the operating subsidiaries, including

all branch offices, have not filed for bankruptcy protection,

the subsidiaries and their branches are expected to continue

generating positive cash flow and continue paying, in the normal

course of business, all wages, benefits and other employee obligations,

as well as all outstanding and ongoing accounts payable to their

contractors and vendors.