LeNature's Inc.'s former CEO Gregory Podlucky funneled more than $7.7 million from the bankrupt company to a nonprofit corporation that he created to honor the memory of his late daughter, according to a lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Bankruptcy Court in Pittsburgh.
The lawsuit was one of 70 filed this week by trustee Marc Kirschner in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Pittsburgh against the Melissa Morgan Capital Corp. and a host of other defendants by which he seeks to recover a total of more than $46 million.
Podlucky's daughter, Melissa Morgan Podlucky, was killed in a 2001 auto accident in Ligonier.
Kirschner is the liquidating trustee who has been tasked with recovering money owed creditors when the company plunged to more than $800 million in debt.
The defendants include contractors, plumbers, electricians architects, roofers, engineers, consultants, banks and other financial institutions. The suits seek the recovery of millions that Kirschner is alleging was fraudulently transferred by Podlucky before his beverage and bottling company was forced into bankruptcy on Nov. 1, 2006.
More lawsuits are expected.
Kirschner said LeNature's "was insolvent or became insolvent as a result of each transfer."
One of the defendants, AIG Commercial Equipment Finance -- a unit of troubled insurance giant American International Group Inc. -- loaned LeNature's more than $26 million that was deposited with another company to build bottling equipment for a Florida bottling plant that Podlucky never built.
The manufacturer returned more than $20 million to AIG -- or at least the manufacturer thought it was AIG -- after it received a letter requesting the refund.
However, it was later learned that the AIG letter was a forgery, according to a court filing, and the company had not sought a refund.
Peter Tulupman, a spokesman for AIG, said the company had no comment.
Podlucky wanted to build a nondenominational church and conference center along Route 30 in Ligonier Township to honor his daughter. He formed Missy's Place Foundation and the Melissa Morgan Capital Corporation to fund the project.
Podlucky, according to the filings, spent more than $1 million on the project that was never built.
He reportedly spent millions more building an ornate, 25,000-square-foot mansion in Ligonier that he claimed was to be a training center for his employees.
The house has seven fireplaces, a guest house, a five-car garage and an auditorium wired with the latest electronic devices. He had planned to build a swimming pool and placed a $14,000 deposit with a pool company that Kirschner is trying to recover. The custom-made cabinets alone cost more than $1.1 million, according to the lawsuits.
Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge M. Bruce McCullough Thursday blocked the sale of the properties that are owned by Podlucky, his wife and sons.
McCullough ruled that two parcels in Ligonier cannot be sold by Podlucky, his wife, Karla, or sons, Jesse, Jordan and Jared because Kirschner is in the process of trying to recover debts for creditors and may sue the Podluckys to get title to the lands.
Another asset Kirschner will use to pay creditors is a cache of gems and jewelry that federal agents discovered in safes located in a hidden room within LeNature's Latrobe headquarters. The items have been turned over to Kirschner.
The collapse of LeNature's triggered a federal grand jury investigation into allegations of money laundering, bank, wire and mail fraud involving Podlucky and several former executives.
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