Gold Gym’s former owner fibbed, trustee says
A U.S. bankruptcy court trustee has leveled fraud accusations against Maureen Suhadolnik, former owner of Gold’s Gym, which closed last year amid bankruptcy proceedings, In court papers filed last month, trustee Nancy Gargula says that Maureen Suhadolnik, whose gym declared bankruptcy in 2014 and was closed after being taken over by Illini Bank last fall, received more than $8,500 in direct payments from the gym last year that were not disclosed in bankruptcy filings. Gargula also says that Suhadolnik, who declared personal bankruptcy two weeks after her gym closed, received money indirectly via a loan to the gym.
The money trail involving online lending companies is complicated.
In court documents, Gargula says that Suhadolnik obtained a $15,000 loan in May, 2015, from Ironwood Financing, an Internet lending company, to buy equipment for the gym, but no equipment was received. Most of the money from Ironwood was sent to either a man named John Nasruddin, who was connected to a company that was supposed to buy the gym but never did, or someone else who isn’t identified in court documents, at Nasruddin’s direction, Gargula says. Suhadolnik, Gargula alleges, received “various indirect payments” from the gym in connection with the loan.
Gold’s last summer began making payments on a second loan from Ironwood, Gargula says, and sent $8,400 to Nasruddin one day after getting more than $8,500 from the online lending company. The gym paid an estimated $18,327 in payments on the second Ironwood loan in addition to at least $14,527 paid on the first loan, Gargula says, but details are murky.
“No loan documents for the second Ironwood loan have been produced,” Gargula says in court documents. “The defendant’s (Suhadolnik’s) explanation for these payments was that she received a second loan from Ironwood similar to the previous loan and for the same purpose.”
In addition to money from Ironwood, Gold’s Gym last summer received $7,190 from Stack Capital, another Internet loan company, and paid back an estimated $4,725. Three days after getting money from Stack Capital, the gym transferred $6,250 to a third party, unnamed in court documents, at Nasruddin’s direction, according to Gargula.
“No loan documents for this Stack Capital loan have been produced,” Gargula writes in court documents. “The defendant’s (Suhadolnik’s) explanation for these payments (from the gym to Stack Capital) was that this was another loan similar to the two Ironwood loans.”
Suhadolnik has not explained loss of assets from the gym, and she has failed to keep required records, Gargula says in arguing that Suhadolnik should not be discharged from bankruptcy. Suhadolnik in bankruptcy filings didn’t account for direct payments to herself and to Ironwood for the first loan received from the company, Gargula says. As for the second loan from Ironwood and the loan from Stack Capital, Gargula says that Suhadolnik in bankruptcy filings either didn’t disclose payments to the companies from gym accounts or falsely told the court that the gym hadn’t borrowed any money.
“The defendant knew the representations when made were false,” Gargula writes in asking that Suhadolnik not be discharged from bankruptcy. “The representations made by the defendant under oath and the threat of perjury constitute false oaths and/or false accountings…and were made in connection with the Gold’s Gym bankruptcy.”
Gargula also says that Suhadolnik wasn’t truthful in her personal bankruptcy case when she said that she hadn’t transferred property when she had actually sent $10,000 last year to either Nasruddin or to someone else, unnamed in court documents, at Nasruddin’s direction.
“The defendant’s…sworn statements constitute false oaths,” Gargula writes. “The defendant knowingly and fraudulently made her representation…in reckless disregard of its truthfulness.”
Suhadolnik could not be reached for comment. She has asked the bankruptcy court for a continuance in responding to Gargula’s accusations, saying that she doesn’t have a lawyer and is scheduled for surgery.
In her personal bankruptcy petition, Suhadolnik last fall said that she has assets of $276,440, chiefly in the form of her house and a 2011 Cadillac, and liabilities of more than $5.6 million, with $204,000 owed on the home and more than $19,700 owed on the car, which is co-owned with a brother. Between Social Security and unemployment benefits, Suhadolnik said that she and her husband had a monthly income of $3,640 and monthly expenses of $5,125. Her obligations include a $27,000 lien from the Illinois Department of Revenue and a $93,538 federal tax lien from the Internal Revenue service.
Gold’s Gym, shuttered last fall, is now slated to become a Salvation Army homeless shelter.
Contact Bruce Rushton at brushton@illinoistimes.com.
