Junior creditors of Senior Care Centers LLC are suing the former controlling shareholder and a major landlord of the skilled nursing facilities operator for more than $100 million, saying that the business fell into bankruptcy after its assets were plundered, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Alan Halperin, a trustee for unsecured creditors in the chapter 11 case, on Thursday filed a complaint against Granite Investment Group and related affiliates, alleging they extracted tens of millions of dollars at the expense of other creditors. Those “self-dealing transactions,” Halperin said, included charging above-market-rate leases of skilled nursing facilities. Dallas-based Senior Care filed for bankruptcy in December 2018, partly blaming ballooning rents and saying it needed to address “burdensome debt levels and expensive leases” at skilled nursing and assisted- and independent-living facilities. Bankruptcy law gives struggling businesses more power to get out of or renegotiate leases. The company entered bankruptcy with about 110 facilities that served more than 9,000 patients.
