Ocala Funding LLC, a financing vehicle used and controlled by failed Taylor Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp., filed for bankruptcy protection in Florida.
The Orlando-based company listed both assets and debt of more than $1 billion each in Chapter 11 documents filed today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Jacksonville, Florida. Taylor Bean owns a 100 percent membership interest in Ocala Funding, according to court papers.
Ocala Funding issued asset-backed commercial paper to financial institutions including Deutsche Bank, Germany’s biggest bank, and Paris-based BNP Paribas, according to court papers.
From 2002 through August 2009, Lee Farkas, ex-chairman of Taylor Bean, directed the sale of more than $1.5 billion in fake mortgage assets to Colonial Bank and misappropriated more than $1.5 billion from Ocala Funding LLC, according to a statement of facts filed by prosecutors.
“The debtor has liabilities that exceed its assets by more than $2 billion,” Neil Lauria, Ocala’s chief restructuring officer, said in court papers. “Nearly half this shortfall is the result of transfers of the debtor’s assets to Freddie Mac under the direction and control of the Farkas Parties.”
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is listed as the largest unsecured creditor with a claim of $898.9 million.
July 11, 2012 at 1:42 am
And just imagine. . .this is just a drop in the bucket compared to the big banks:/