Bankruptcy Trustee Randy Seaver ruled that $7678 million in debt will not be forgiven in the fallen auto mogul’s bankruptcy case.
Hecker’s attorney Bill Skolnick estimated the final debt owed would be closer to $400 million after vehicle repossessions and other asset sales are completed. The proposed settlement was not Hecker’s idea, but he needed to focus his energies on criminal fraud charges he faces, Skolnick said.
Skolnick signed the bankruptcy settlement for Hecker Tuesday and Seaver signed it late Thursday. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for April 7. It ends one chapter in a long and messy case.
The bankruptcy y judge Robert Kressel decided to not forgive Hecker’s debt because he allegedly lied in his personal bankruptcy case saying that he didn’t have access to thousands of computer records, claiming they were seized by the police. In a previous lawsuit the bankruptcy trustee requested that Hecker’s debt not be forgiven because he hid hundreds of thousands of dollars in assets with the help of his girlfriend Christi Rowan and former in-law Bill Prohofsky who was found dead last week in an apparent suicide. Prohofsky left a suicide note leading authorizes to where Hecker hid his assets.
Under the bankruptcy agreement, Hecker’s assets will be liquidated; but his girlfriend Christi Rowan will be ordered to return over $425,000 worth of gifts and cash that Hecker gave to her over the past couple of years. If Rowan fails to return these gifts she could face criminal prosecution or other actions by the bankruptcy court.