Solberg: 'I lost everything'

Kjetil Solberg, the founder and former owner of defunct processor Adak Fisheries, has answered a bankruptcy trustee's lawsuit seeking the return of $400,000.

Filing the papers himself without an attorney, Solberg says he's no longer an Adak resident and lists his current station as Panama City, Panama.

He acknowledges a money transfer "to settle my divorce."

But Solberg contends it was money he was due.

"I did nothing wrong, and the value of time and money I invested in the company was far more than I took out over time," Solberg's answer says.

Read the full document here.

Bankruptcy trustee says Solberg owes $400,000

As previously reported here, Aleut Enterprise is suing to try to evict an unwanted tenant from the seafood processing plant on Adak Island.

Last week, Aleut filed this 17-page memo arguing that, hey, the tenant at least needs to pay rent while the court case plays out.

The real nugget of the memo, however, is the mention of a separate lawsuit previously unknown to Deckboss.

The Aleut memo says the lawsuit levels "troubling ... allegations of self-dealing and fraud" against Kjetil Solberg, the founder and former owner of Adak Fisheries, which filed for bankruptcy last September.

Kenneth Battley, the court-appointed trustee for Adak Fisheries, brought the suit in April.

Just today, Battley asked the judge to declare Solberg in default for failure to answer the lawsuit.

Battley wants Solberg to pay back $400,000 to the Adak Fisheries estate.

The suit says Solberg, or parties on his behalf, received money transfers that were executed too near the time the company filed for bankruptcy.

For example, Adak Fisheries made a $26,425.71 mortgage payment on a piece of property Solberg owns, the Battley suit says.

Another time, checks for $100,000 and $15,838 went to "Ricky Solberg, Mr. Solberg's wife or ex-wife," for "property settlement, credit card payments and child support."

The Aleut Enterprise memo offers further detail, saying: "The trustee has alleged that Mr. Solberg utilized company funds to pay for personal travel, mortgage payments on a recreational property in Halibut Cove, and alimony payments, among other things."

Solberg is now an owner in a new company, Adak Seafood, the successor to Adak Fisheries.

It is Adak Seafood, of course, that landlord Aleut Enterprise aims to evict, arguing the company lacks a valid lease.

Adak conflict widens

Regular visitors to Deckboss know we've expended a fair amount of energy covering the legal battles surrounding the cod plant on faraway Adak Island.

Now comes yet another twist.

It seems the city of Adak feels the owner of the plant property, Aleut Enterprise, should pony up the unpaid utility bills left behind by its bankrupt former tenant, Adak Fisheries.

The city has sued Aleut in state Superior Court seeking $428,728.55 for electric, water, sewer and garbage services rendered.

Of this sum, $300,890.43 is for utility services to the processing plant, with $127,838.12 for services to 38 housing units that Aleut also leased to Adak Fisheries.

In an answer to the lawsuit, a lawyer for Aleut "denies the City's right to recover any of the requested relief through its claims."

Aleut argues the city is barred from collecting due to its "own negligence," and further cites the "doctrine of unclean hands" and sundry other defenses.

Of course, Aleut is battling in a separate case to evict the plant's successor occupant, Adak Seafood.

And an East Coast bank with millions of dollars in loans at stake also is involved in this fine kettle of fish.

Yet another twist in the Adak saga

Regular Deckboss visitors will recall the troubled processor out on Adak Island was sold back in November.

Or so we thought.

It seems the buyer, as alleged in this lawsuit, can't get the seller to sign off on the deal!

Motion denied

Earlier this month, Deckboss told you how the landlord out on Adak had told the new occupant of the island's lone fish plant to get out.

Or be thrown out.

Well, the latest twist in the drama is that Adak Seafood, which in November bought the former Adak Fisheries operation out of bankruptcy, asked for a temporary restraining order to prevent landlord Aleut Enterprise from "hindering" the plant.

Lawyers for Adak Seafood said the company is trying to start up the processing plant for this fishing season, but Aleut has refused to provide electricity or fuel to the plant, or provide access to the pier.

"Such actions are currently causing Adak Seafood significant damage, and if not immediately enjoined, will cause damage to all fishermen seeking to offload without traveling back to Dutch Harbor or dealing with Trident," says the motion for the restraining order.

Trident Seafoods Corp., an unsuccessful bidder for the Adak plant, is expected to send a processing ship to the Adak region.

Aleut Enterprise President Rudy Tsukada, in a written declaration filed with the court, said his company has "developed a lack of trust for the present management of Adak Seafood."

The management "is essentially the same as the previous management for Adak Fisheries," which ran up an unpaid fuel bill of about $700,000, Tsukada said.

So yes, he said, Aleut Enterprise's fuel subsidiary, Adak Petroleum, did cut off fuel sales after Dec. 31, which is when Aleut contends the lease expired on the plant property.

As for electricity, well, TDX sells power on Adak, not Aleut Enterprise, Tsukada noted.

Further, Tsukada said that while he doesn't believe Adak Seafood has access rights to the dock under the "expired" lease, Aleut Enterprise "has not locked it out."

OK.

So, yesterday in Anchorage, a hearing was held on Adak Seafood's motion for the restraining order against its reluctant landlord.

Motion denied, said U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Donald MacDonald.

Not sure where this thing goes from here, folks. Could get ugly.

Sold!

Lawyers yesterday worked out a sale of troubled processor Adak Fisheries to a newly formed Norwegian-backed concern called Adak Seafood LLC.

Here's the order signed by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Donald MacDonald.

Adak Seafood got the plant on Adak Island, way down the Aleutian chain beyond Dutch Harbor, for $488,000 in cash plus assumption of $6.7 million in loans from Independence Bank of Rhode Island.

The sale price "is millions of dollars higher" than a competing bid from Trident Seafoods Corp., the judge's order notes. Trident didn't offer to take on the bank debt.

It appears the key to the deal was the pledge of certain sums to satisfy Aleut Enterprise, the processor's landlord on Adak.

The order says the sale should clear the way for the plant to open in time for the lucrative Pacific cod season in January.

That would be a good scenario for the young community of Adak, which is counting on its only fish plant to help to convert the former Cold War military outpost into a viable civilian town.

But never mind the island's future. Deckboss just wonders how long it'll take Kjetil Solberg to turn up again at Adak.

The latest on Adak Fisheries

Again this morning, Deckboss trudged through new snow to the bankruptcy court in Anchorge to check out continued proceedings in the case of Adak Fisheries.

So far today, the result has been the same as yesterday: No action on a sale of the faraway fish plant.

If anything, a sale sounds less likely than it did a couple of days ago.

"We are losing momentum, judge," Cabot Christianson, the lawyer for Adak Fisheries, told Bankruptcy Judge Donald MacDonald. "We are losing momentum on the deal."

Presumably, the deal to which Christianson refers is the offer from a Norwegian concern for $488,000 in cash plus assumption of $6.7 million in bank debt on the plant.

Aleut Enterprise, landlord for Adak Fisheries on Adak Island, doesn't like the offer because Kjetil Solberg, which whom Aleut has jousted over the years, might somehow be involved with the buyer.

A competing offer of $2 million in cash is on the table from Seattle-based Trident Seafoods Corp.

The bank that holds the debt on the Adak plant, we assume, doesn't care for the Trident offer.

The numerous lawyers involved in the knotty case are expected to convene again at 2 p.m. at the courthouse.

Lawyers haggle over fate of Adak Fisheries

Deckboss did indeed make it down to the courthouse in Anchorage today for a hearing on the Adak Fisheries bankruptcy.

A bunch of lawyers were gathered there, but spent very little time in the courtroom. Instead, they huddled privately most of the day before asking the judge to postpone matters until 11 a.m. Tuesday.

We've got a tricky situation here involving the debtor processor, its landlord, an East Coast bank looking to recoup several million dollars in loans, and two companies vying to buy the assets of Adak Fisheries.

Lawyers say the key is finding some resolution quickly so a new owner can reopen the plant on distant Adak Island in time for the main cod season in January.

One of the prospective buyers, Trident Seafoods Corp., showed me it's pretty serious about its $2 million cash offer, as the company has sent its ace staff attorney, Joe Plesha, to the court proceedings.

Trident reveals Adak interest

Trident Seafoods Corp. is offering $2 million in cash for the assets of Adak Fisheries.

Seattle-based Trident, in a filing yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Anchorage, said it would like to reopen the plant on far-flung Adak Island in early 2010.

The plant is known mainly as a cod processor, but Trident indicates it might process pollock there, too.

As we've previously noted here on Deckboss, however, Trident is not alone in pursuing the plant.

An outfit called Adak Seafood purportedly is offering $488,000 in cash plus assumption of $6.7 million in bank debt.

In papers filed this week in the bankruptcy court, Aleut Enterprise, landlord for Adak Fisheries, opposes the sale to Adak Seafood in part because the processor's former owner, Kjetil Solberg, appears to be involved with the prospective buyer.

Aleut Enterprise said it "does not believe that Mr. Solberg or any company in which he is involved can provide adequate assurance of future performance, based on past performance issues."

The whole affair is set for a big hearing in the Anchorage bankruptcy court starting at 9 a.m. Monday.

Deckboss just might amble down there and check it out.

Your honor, if you please...

Well, now, I see Anchorage attorney David Oesting yesterday entered his firm's appearance in the Adak Fisheries bankruptcy case.

The firm is representing Trident Seafoods, which has been mentioned as a potential buyer of the Adak processing plant.

Oesting, you might recall, has toiled for many years as lead counsel for the plaintiffs in the Exxon Valdez oil spill case.

Kjetil Solberg — Adak survivor

Here's an update on the bankruptcy case of Adak Fisheries LLC, the company that owns the lone fish processing plant on faraway Adak Island in the Aleutian chain.

It seems the debtor now agrees with the company's main creditor, Independence Bank, that the plant and its equipment should be sold to an outfit called Adak Seafood LLC.

This sale motion the lawyer for Adak Fisheries filed indicates the buyer would pay $488,000 in cash, and would also assume the $6.7 million in debt owed to Independence Bank.

We learn a lot of other very interesting things from this and other documents filed in recent days in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Anchorage. To wit:

• Adak Seafood LLC was incorporated in Delaware on Sept. 4 and, as Deckboss reported on Sept. 29, is affiliated with Norwegian seafood company Drevik International. The court papers say Drevik was a major Adak Fisheries customer, and that "a group of Norwegian investors" is behind Adak Seafood.

• None other than Kjetil Solberg, who founded the Adak processor in 1998 but no longer owns it, "has a relationship to" the potential buyer, Adak Seafood. Solberg "would be involved in the operation of the plant if the purchase was successful," and in fact "may be in complete charge of the buyer's new operation," the sale motion says.

This would be a fairly amazing feat for Solberg, who has lost control of the Adak plant before, only to rally back. In 2005, for instance, during a dispute with a former partner and the plant's landlord, a judge barred Solberg from the property, the doors of which were actually padlocked for a time.

• The lawyer representing Adak Fisheries in the bankruptcy case writes in the sale motion that while Adak Seafood has made the only formal offer for the plant, the debtor "believes that there may be another offer coming, from Trident Seafoods."

The whole affair could reach a climax on Nov. 9, when a hearing is scheduled to consider the sale motion.

Adak Fisheries bankruptcy recalls Ben Stevens

As frequent visitors to this blog know, Deckboss has been bird-dogging the bankruptcy case of Adak Fisheries, an Aleutian cod processor with a turbulent past.

Among the various motions now pending in the case is the company's attempt to break its lease with landlord Aleut Enterprise.

What's really interesting about this motion is its concise history of the business, including a candid accounting of its good and bad years financially.

The motion also mentions Ben Stevens, suggesting the son of the former U.S. senator was a key figure in a falling-out between Adak Fisheries founder Kjetil Solberg and one of his several partners.

Well, enough of my description. Just read the five-page motion.

By the way, the lease matter is scheduled to come up in a hearing on Wednesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Anchorage.

Possible buyer of Adak fish plant comes clearer

I've been able to peel away a bit of the mystery surrounding a potential buyer of the assets of Adak Fisheries, which has filed for bankruptcy.

The processor's main creditor, Independence Bank of Rhode Island, is asking the court to OK a sale to an outfit called Adak Seafood LLC.

As you might recall, Deckboss was unable to tell you very much about Adak Seafood a few days ago.

A friendly reader has since steered me to the following fine print in certain court documents:

Adak Seafood's address is care of a law firm in Providence, R.I.

The company's managing member is listed as Asbjorn Drevik.

Adak Fisheries, in its bankruptcy filing, listed Norwegian seafood company Drevik International AS as a top creditor with a "disputed" $3.8 million claim.

In checking Drevik International's Web site, I see an Asbjørn Drevik listed as a company contact.

The next hearing is scheduled for Oct. 7 in the bankruptcy court in Anchorage.

Trident empire expanding to Adak?

Deckboss probed a little deeper today into documents filed thus far in the Adak Fisheries bankruptcy case and came across an interesting e-mail from company lawyer Cabot Christianson.

The Sept. 12 message to lawyers for creditor Independence Bank says in part that Adak Fisheries "does not intend to operate the processing plant at Adak; instead, Debtor intends to negotiate a sale of the equipment at Adak to Trident Seafoods, or some other bidder, and then either convert to a Chapter 7 or file a liquidating plan of reorganization."

The e-mail adds: "Regardless of whether the sale is successful, there are insurance claims to collect and cod liver oil, and other inventory, to sell."

Certainly, it wouldn't be unheard of for Seattle-based seafood giant Trident Seafoods Corp. to go shopping in bankruptcy court. It did so this spring, acquiring Wrangell Seafoods.

Trident is now operating the Wrangell plant, but it might not have any interest in actually running a plant on faraway Adak Island, some 350 miles west of Dutch Harbor. Note that Christianson's e-mail says only that Adak Fisheries might sell equipment to Trident, not the whole operation.

Independence Bank, which says it has $6.7 million in outstanding loans to Adak Fisheries and a priority claim to the company's assets, casts doubt on "a purported offer to purchase" from Trident.

"No such offer has ever been provided to either the Court, or creditors or other interested parties," say papers Independence filed Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Anchorage.

The bank is asking the judge to approve a sale to a company identified as Adak Seafood LLC.

I was unable to discover just who is behind Adak Seafood. The state's corporation database lists no active company by that name, and I haven't seen any court documents revealing its owners or officers.

A fine little mystery!

Bankruptcy for Adak Fisheries

The end could be near for Adak Fisheries LLC, a little seafood processor with a hugely tumultuous history.

The company, which runs a plant for processing cod and other fish on distant Adak Island in the Aleutians, on Sept. 11 filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Anchorage.

You'll recall we touched on the troubles of Adak Fisheries only recently with a post about the company's battle with the local electric power utility.

According to its bankruptcy petition, Adak Fisheries has assets of $10 million to $50 million, with liabilities estimated in the same range.

Some top creditors include Drevik International AS of Norway, $3.8 million; Aleut Enterprise LLC of Anchorage, $1.3 million; Muir Milach Management LLC of Mercer Island, Wash., $402,000; TDX Adak Generating LLC of Anchorage, $268,000; Trident Seafoods Corp. of Seattle, $255,000; and the IRS, $231,000.

At least one creditor is in no mood to allow Adak Fisheries to reorganize its business.

Independence Bank, which says it loaned Adak Fisheries and founder Kjetil Solberg $4.35 million in 2007, yesterday filed to convert the case from Chapter 11 to a Chapter 7 liquidation.

Independence says it "has a first position security interest in essentially all of Adak's assets."

I don't have time at the moment to recount the colorful history — the failed partnerships and political exploits — of Adak Fisheries and Mr. Solberg.

But I'll say this: Wonder what becomes of the fledgling town of Adak? The lone fish plant was a pillar of the economy out there and a major part of plans to turn the former military outpost into a viable civilian fishing town.

Adak's power struggle

Deckboss simply doesn't have the energy tonight to recap the long and tumultuous history of Adak Fisheries, the little fish plant on faraway Adak Island in the Aleutians.

He can only report the latest drama surrounding the operation.

It seems a flurry of lawsuits have been filed against Adak Fisheries in recent weeks.

One suit involves the local electric utility, TDX Adak Generating, suing for unpaid power bills. More on this case in a minute.

Another case has Coastal Transportation Inc. suing for $56,520 in unpaid bills for shipping everything from boots and rain gear to pallets of salt. Court records show a default judgment already has been entered against Adak Fisheries for failure to answer the lawsuit.

Toyota Motor Credit Corp. and Daimler Chrysler Financial Services also have sued Adak Fisheries, but I wasn't able to get a look at those case files today.

The major suit seems to be the TDX action against Adak Fisheries and owners Kjetil Solberg, Matthew Tisher and Dave Fraser.

Evidently, the Adak Fisheries folks and TDX have been in a power struggle for some time over the processor's electric bills. The fish plant is among the largest power users on Adak, which until recent years was strictly a military outpost.

My read of the lawsuit is that TDX is aiming to collect potentially more than $1 million in unpaid bills and damages for "intentionally tampering" with an electric meter to show the plant used way less juice than it actually did.

The lawsuit includes an affidavit from Adak Police Chief James Northcott, who says he also has worked as an electrician for the city as well as TDX and Adak Fisheries.

Northcott's statement says Adak Fisheries employees including Fraser met with Adak's mayor and others at city hall toward the end of last year. They expressed concern about the size of the processor's electric bill and the accuracy of a meter Northcott had installed in the fish plant in 2007.

At the time of the city hall meeting, the city owned the local electric utility. TDX took it over in December 2008.

Northcott, in his statement, says city officials agreed to install a replacement meter.

"When the meter arrived in late November 2008, Dave Fraser intercepted the meter shipment at the Alaska Airlines freight office in Adak, took the new meter to the fish plant, and directed Adak Fisheries' electrician, Saldie, to install the new meter," Northcott's affidavit says. "All of this was done without my approval. I told Dave Fraser that he had no authority to make the change, and that I was the only one authorized by the City to change out meters. In fact, I got into an argument with Dave Fraser over the entire matter."

The TDX lawsuit contends the new meter was wired in such a way as to show only a third of actual electrical usage.

The suit also says that after some failed negotiations, TDX disconnected the fish processor's main commercial account on April 8.

Adak Fisheries and the owners haven't yet answered the TDX lawsuit, which was filed July 13 in Superior Court in Anchorage.

Of course, Deckboss would be pleased to report the other side of the story and invites Solberg and Fraser to respond to this post.