An oil investment firm that was legally based in Texas but had been run from Cape Cod, Mass., and had assets and liabilities valued in the millions of dollars, filed today for chapter 11 protection under the bankruptcy code, the Boston Business Journal reported today. Buckingham Oil Interests Inc. in its filing reported assets in the range of $3 million to $10 million and liabilities in the range of $10 million to $50 million. The executive and owner who ran the firm, Darryl A. Buckingham, died in August of cancer, according to an obituary published by Capenews.net. According to a court filing, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission launched a probe into Buckingham's business dealings shortly after his death. Francis C. Morrissey, the attorney who filed the bankruptcy for the company, described Buckingham Oil Interests in an interview as a "one man show." Given the complexity of the business, Morrissey said, the company entered chapter 11 proceedings to gain access to "a fiduciary who could protect the assets of the creditors, the investors and the stakeholders."
