Trustee claims fraud
<p>Marshall Chesrown, CEO of Black Rock Development, points out industrial design aspects of the condos at Bellerive in the Riverstone District in this Thursday, May 7, 2009 Press file photo.</p>
COEUR d'ALENE - A bankruptcy trustee in Marshall Chesrown's case filed documents claiming Chesrown fraudulently sent money to family and friends as he neared his claim for debt relief.
Five complaints were filed Thursday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of Florida as the trustee seeks to recover the transferred money, which the trustee alleges came too close to the bankruptcy. Chesrown filed for bankruptcy relief in May 2013, citing $72 million in debts and assets of $514,000.
Chesrown, the posh golf course community developer, made huge investments with money he made in the car-sales business to get the prominent Club at Black Rock established. He worked to develop several major projects in the Spokane-Coeur d'Alene area.
The trustee, Nicole Testa Mehdipour, is trying to recover money for creditors.
Mehdipour is seeking $1.36 million from Chesrown's son, Scott Chesrown, for transfers made from January 2011 to January 2013.
The transfers were made to his son without Marshall Chesrown receiving "reasonably equivalent value" in return, the documents said. They were made when Marshall Chesrown was already unable to pay debts as they became due.
Scott Chesrown isn't the only one the trustee is after for money. She also is going after $234,000 from Jeannine McLaughlin, Marshall Chesrown's mother. She lived in a Liberty Lake home owned by Chesrown.
Chesrown made the $5,700 monthly house payments, and paid the homeowner's insurance and taxes on the place. She didn't pay him rent.
Among the questionable transfers sought by Mehdipour is $372,000 from Kevin Westfall, of Fort Worth, Texas. Westfall had loaned Chesrown money for development projects.
Chesrown made a series of transfers totaling $372,000 to Westfall between August 2010 and January 2013.
The trustee wants $77,000 from Rishon Ludders, who was believed to be Chesrown's girlfriend. She received checks for $25,000 in September 2010, and $52,000 in November 2011, according to the court documents.
Finally, the trustee is seeking $100,000 from Spokane attorney John R. Layman, who received that amount in a check from Chesrown in August 2010.