The Chapter 11 sale of the historic magazines, Ebony and Jet, has been put on hold after a Texas bankruptcy judge halted the order based on a claim objection that had been blocked by an insider deal.
As previously reported by rolling out in July 2020, the longstanding iconic magazines filed bankruptcy and creditors were being allowed to reposition their assets while the magazine was still allowed to produced content and procure events. The original lawsuit called for a Chapter 7 liquidation by creditors Parkview Capital Credit Inc., photo studio Plum Studio and law firm David M. Abner & Associates, who collectively claimed the magazine company owed $11.9 million and was making no effort to recompense them.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge, David Jones, expressed dismay at reports of the deal suggested former members of the Ebony media operations board were involved. Judge Jones has now decided to abandon deadlines that were previously in place and will now allow the new directors to investigate the case while he decides what will happen next, according to Law 360.
“All options are on the table,” Judge Jones said.
Judge Jones went on to order the removal of the board associated with Parkview, while ordering a replacement that included Ebony‘s Chief Restructuring Officer, Robert Ogle and attorney Brendon Singh. Jones is said to have been “increasingly concerned” about the transparency of the process that was established beforehand.
Judge Jones indicated that options for a Chapter 7 conversion were possible, stating, “If we’re going to do this, we’re going to do this right. We are going to get to the bottom of this.”
