Thoughts and recap from the bankruptcy court hearing (May 27, 2022)

I like this judge. Matter of fact, in charge, patient, but real/human, and easy to work with.

Balance of needs and rights of all parties, but staying within the spirit of the law.

Understands there are significant numbers of non-legal parties (creditors) — members of Front Sight.

Judge is very informed and well prepared.

He was not amused with the legal games attempted by Ignatius Piazza’s counsel. He made it clear what his rulings and deadlines were.

Ignatius Piazza and his attorneys framed the $100 a day fee in their favor and the judge approved, as it was to protect the interests of the secured creditors. Although he appreciated our concerns, unsecured creditors’ interests are significantly less monetarily than the secured.

Ignatius Piazza did not get everything he wanted and many of those things should not have.

Currently only 135 total employees (range masters, maintenance, office …). So it appears quite a few have left.

The judge issued an order that Ignatius Piazza will NOT be able to be paid any compensation going forward during bankruptcy. He gets to keep everything he got from us over the last # of months.

A third-party claims noticing agent (Stretto) will handle all notifications via e-mail and/or USPS mail to all litigants and creditors. They will have a specific website for this matter. You should eventually (next 30 days and we will get their contact info) contact them to be sure they have your correct and current email and mailing addresses. You should also contact Front Sight to be sure it is all current.

A number of items above my pay grade of understanding that don’t directly or indirectly affect the unsecured creditor members and banned members.

Other than the $100 a day fees, nothing really addressed in this matter for current nor banned members.

Front Sight will potentially stay open for the time being, at least until October 2022.

There was a possible mic drop near the end of the hearing (6 hours) when the judge asked if he should just modify this to a Chapter 7 filing and withhold any available financing or funds for ongoing expenses.

Apparently, he has the financial ability and desire and can borrow money now and make timely interest payments. So, what happened over the last year?

June 15th was set as a deadline for filing a significant amount of financial statements by Front Sight. The judge was firm on this in no uncertain terms.

The Las Vegas Land Development objected to additional priming lien lending/funding (DIP — Debtors in Possession) while in Chapter 11. Ignatius Piazza/Front Sight created another/new LLC just 3 days ago to get more funding from a private party (friends in the corner …). There is a stalking horse bid agreement potential issue that became a very contentious issue. A stalking-horse bid is an initial bid on the assets of a bankrupt company. The bankrupt company will choose an entity from a pool of bidders who will make the first bid on the firm’s remaining assets. The stalking horse sets the low-end bidding bar so that other bidders can not underbid the purchase price. Front Sight tried to use heartstrings that employees would not get paid on June 1st without this DIP funding. Front Sight said they only have $10k in cash in all of their bank accounts. Wait! What? They stated they have a $225k payroll debt on June 1st. But need a minimum of $700k to get them through the end of June. (Payroll and operational costs). And, they will not take in enough money on a monthly basis from the $100 daily fee per attendee going forward. Where did all the money go from the past?

On that last matter, the judge ultimately ruled that Front Sight could only borrow a maximum of $600k at this time, pending a hearing on the 24th of June, to allow operations to continue while Front Sight works on reorganization. That was mainly due to a significant lack of financial info provided to the court by Front Sight.

Ignatius Piazza is still in charge of Front Sight at this time. That may change in the future as the court could rule that Ignatius Piazza be removed from any financial or operational control and be replaced by a court-appointed Trustee.

Front Sight wanted more money and an earlier hearing (have it on the 17th) in order to get more money. The judge said no.

So what does that mean for us as current or former members? $100 a day to take training. Wait until the findings and decision on June 24th. The judge has significant reservations about approving $5 million in additional loan funding to Front Sight. If Front Sight can not provide good cause (records and financial info), they may end up moving to Chapter 7, without additional monies, this may move to Chapter 7. Front Sight tried to threaten or intimate that and the judge was not worried or moved.

— Gary Short, 5/27/2022

Source: https://www.facebook.com/groups/frontsightlawsuit/