Biographies

Carleen Ahrensworked in the risk management department at Level Headquarters in Westlake. She worked closely with Pat Tighe, who first noticed the document disposal in December, 2002, and herself witnessed bulk document disposal and document shredding in the winter of 2002-2003.

Ann Aldrich is a United States District Judge. She heard the majority of the appeals from the Level Propane bankruptcy. Among other matters, she ruled that under Hazel-Atlas even a settled decision can be opened up where there has been fraud on the court and that BFCA were officers of the Court representing the Bank Group, even though they took fees as Debtors’ Counsel.

Amerigas is the largest United States marketer of propane by gallonage. It was a fierce rival of Level Propane because Level threatened to loosen Amerigas’s market dominance by means of its innovative marketing system.

John Andrica was a member of the Horizon Propane Management team. 

Robert Angart was the CFO of Level Propane while it was under the management of Eaglerock Propane in the winter of 2002-2003. He was responsible for bulk shredding and of key corporate documents and records.

Richard Anterwas the President of Eaglerock Propane and Level Propane while it was under the management of Eaglerock Propane. He continued the customer payment check concealment scheme with John Verbos in 2002-2003 that had begun the previous year when the Verbos-Anter emails were written.

Suzanne Arena worked in the credit department at Level while it was it was under the management of Eaglerock Propane in 2002-2003. She witnessed the disappearance of the customer contract library and worked under John Verbos after the customer database was compromised to hide 30-40% of the customer base. She also was asked to participate in the “Tank Recovery Committee” which was a ruse to bring the hidden customers back out into the open when the company was getting ready for the take-over by Amerigas.

Jeff Baddeley is an attorney who worked for Baker, Hostettler, and represented the Bank Group when it threw Level Propane into bankruptcy in June, 2002.

The Bank Group comprised of Deutsche Bank, Provident Bank (now PNC Bank through National City) and LaSalle Bank, N.A. (now ABM Ambro), with BT Commercial Corp. acting as Agent. In June, 2006, it put Level Propane into involuntary bankruptcy.

Richard Baumgart is a bankruptcy attorney who was brought in by BFCA to represent Maloof individually. During the initial days of the Bankruptcy he acceded all of the Bank Group’s demands. He advocated to Maloof that he accept a nominal buy-out stating that it was the best that could be done since the company was worthless.

Randolph Baxter is a United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Northern District of Ohio, presiding over the Level Bankruptcy. The Rudd-Verbos emails of October, 2000 suggest that he was an initial member of the scheme to seize control of Level Propane.

Kirk Beck was a driver for Level Propane. He witnessed the April, 2002 bonfire in which thousands of banker boxes filled with customer contracts and customer records were consumed.

George Berry is a partner at Squires, Sanders & Dempsey. He maneuvered Level Propane into 17 separate state attorney general consumer protection suits with his counsel regarding customer contracts. He also represents many oil industry giants in the Midwest.

BFCA, Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff, is the law firm with which the Bank Group and the members of the scheme cooperated to seize control of Level Propane.

Gene Bissell is the President of Amerigas, which took over Level Propane in October, 2003.

Jamez Blairwas an employee of Level Propane. He was directed by Richard Anter in March, 2003 to get the morning mail and deliver to sales department where the customer payments were sorted out and concealed to be deposited into Horizon accounts after June, 2003.

Danny Boggs is the Chief Judge of the United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Christopher Boyko is a United States District Judge. He presided over the suit between Dick Jacobs and his nephews concerning the management of their trust. When William Maloof was before him as a  Plaintiff in 2007, he was asked to transfer the case to Judge Aldrich. He refused and attempted to cite Maloof and his counsel for contempt when he was reminded of his conduct in the Jacobs case. He then recused himself.

Natasha Brandt is an attorney and accountant who works for Level Propane and its remaining estate. In concert with Richard Angart she took the hard-copy customer payment history out of the headquarters building in January, 2003.

Shay Brokemond worked for Blair & Co. on the September, 2002, auction of Level Propane. Her testimony to the Examiner described the active steps taken to sabotage the auction by the Bank Group.

BT Commercial Corp. was the agent for the Bank Group. It was run by the notorious Wayne Hillock, formerly of Bankers’ Trust and a personal friend of Hank Greenberg of AIG.

Denise Burn represented the Bank Group. She negotiated the Forbearance Agreement that put the Bank Group’s agent, John Rudd in control of Level Propane.

Marianne Butch is an attorney with BFCA. When she deposed William Maloof about the electronic media, her questions made it clear that she knew the Verbos-Anter emails were authentic.

Jonathan Caldwell was the IT Administrator at Level from November, 2001 through February, 2005.(?) He preserved the emails that outlined the scheme to take Level Propane.

Anthony O. Calabrese IIIis a partner at Vorys, Sater Seymour & Pease, a prominent Columbus, Ohio law firm with a large Cleveland practice. Mr. Calabrese focuses on public law, that is, negotiations and contracts with governmental bodies such as municipalities, state agencies and county governments. It was in the context of this practice that he crossed paths with both John Wagner, and through John Wagner, Level Propane. Wagner had been involved with a landfill in Ravenna, Ohio, which had been cited for failure to adhere to capacity limits to which it was subject in a closure plan. Its closure was required because, as an unlined landfill, it had be capped off to prevent leaching into the groundwater which was the water supply for surrounding cities, among which was Kent, Ohio.

Wagner, we suspect, traded exoneration regarding the landfill violations, which had reached a crescendo with indictment and arrest warrant of his wife, Cynthia Wagner, for his efforts to pull Level Propane into the ruinous conflict with the State of Ohio over consumer pricing issues. Now, Calabrese has been named in a bribery scandal involving the sale of the Ameritrust tower to Cuyahoga County, which was owned by none other than the late Richard Jacobs. 

Michael Climaco is a prominent labor attorney who was a former partner of Kenneth Seminatore.

Tom Coyne was the Mayor of Brook Park, Ohio.

Barbara Deeds introduced Walter Himmelman to Level Propane at the suggestion of Tim Polumsky of Provident Bank.

Marcia Dettelbach represented Cindy Doman in her custody dispute with William Maloof. Maloof asked Richard Baumgart whether the anyone in his firm was related to Marcia Dettelbach. He emphatically denied it. Ms. Dettelbach is the great niece of the founder of the firm, and Baumgart is the son-in-law of Marvin Sicherman, who is Dettelbach’s cousin.

Deutsche Bank was the lead lender in the Bank Group and the parent of BT Commercial Corp., its agent.

Cindy Domanwas the fiancé of William Maloof, and the mother of one of his daughters. She was also an initial member of the scheme to seize control of Level Propane in October, 2000.

Paul Dolansky was the General Manager of Level Propane.

Dale Dorseywas Judge Baxter’s law clerk in the first two years of the Level Propane Bankruptcy.

Eileen Duffy was employed by Level Propane both before and after the Bankruptcy. She reported the campaign of post-petition management to disparage the Maloof family. She also reported that post-petition management forbade employees from any contact with any member of the Maloof family or face termination.

Dan Duncan is the owner of Enterprise Industries, operator of the largest pipelines in the United States. His interests are aligned with the refineries.

Eaglerock Propane was the front for the Jacobs Group to take over the management of Level Propane in October, 2002.

David Eisler, an attorney, represents William Maloof.

Carleen Faye was an Amerigas administrator who came in when Level was purchased from Horizon. Her first words to the employees were “We have been waiting for this for years.”

Mario Fazio, an attorney at BFCA, represented William Maloof regarding his personal tax disputes.

Jim Ferrell is the majority owner of Ferrellgas, a national propane distributor. He offered to purchase Level Propane for $150MM just days before Level Propane was pulled into bankruptcy by the Bank Group in June, 2002.

Brent Fillito worked for Blair & Co., an investment bank in Chicago, Ill., which marketed Level Propane and prepared the solicitation memorandum for the September, 2002 auction.

Eric Finger is an attorney with Greenberg, Taurig, who assisted the Examiner in the investigation of the bankruptcy in May, 2003. He was present during the Maloof interview when the room was cleared twice for hidden listening devices.

Leah Foster, an employee of Level Propane, witnessed document shredding and disposal in the winter of 2003 and had direct knowledge of the March, 2003 Salvagni document disposal incident.

Patty Geitgey, an employee of Newmarket Partners, worked under John Rudd while he was Chief Restructuring Officer in 2002 and the Bank Group monitor after the bankruptcy. She formed part of the Bank Group’s shadow management of Level, dictating business decisions under the guise of budget review.

John Gleason, an attorney, was a partner at BFCA who worked on the Level Propane bankruptcy.

Joe Gowan,WESTERN REGION OPERATIONS' COORDINATOR-MANAGER, was an employee of Level Propane in New Mexico. He witnessed the disparagement campaign of the Maloof family and concealment of customer tanks in 2003.

Grant Thornton, a big six accounting firm, audited the financial reports of Level Propane. Eight weeks prior to the bankruptcy, it stated that Level had a 100% equity cushion.

Andrew Green was an employee of the Jacobs Group. His formed and attempted to conclude the efforts of the “Tank Recovery Committee” in August and September of 2003, by which concealed customers were to be brought out onto the books.

Maurice (Hank) Greenberg was the CEO of AIG and a personal friend of Wayne Hillock, going back to his Bankers’ Trust days. When he was in control of AIG, he was active in both pipeline speculation and the propane futures market.

Jamie Gyerman worked at Level Propane while the Jacobs Group operated as the shadow management in 2002-2003.

Sebreian Haygood, an attorney, represented William Maloof in July, 2002. He was present when BFCA attempted to buy out Maloof’s resistance to their appointment as Debtors’ Counsel with a promise to Maloof that he would be returned to management of Level Propane.

Jim Hill, an attorney, is the managing partner of BFCA. As head of the Business Practice Group he took over representation of Level Propane in January of 2002. His efforts since that point were to take control of the company from Maloof and deliver it to the Bank Group.

Wayne Hillock was President of BT Commercial Corp., formerly Bankers’ Trust, a division of Deutsche Bank, which acted as agent for the Bank Group. A personal friend of Hank Greenberg, his allegiance to the refining industry drove him to wrest control of Level Propane from Maloof to reassert the status quo between the Northern refineries and the propane majors.

Henry Hilow was a Cuyahoga County Prosecutor.

Walter Himmelmanwas CFO and later President of Level Propane. He was also an initial member of the scheme to seize control of Level in October, 2000.

Horizon Propane, as nominee, took the going-concern assets conveyed to Eaglerock Propane out of the Level Propane bankruptcy in June, 2003.

Bill Howe, a Vice President of BT Commercial, helped advance Wayne Hillock’s agenda to seize control of Level Propane from Maloof.

Dorethea Hutchinson worked in the Bankruptcy Court for Judge Baxter.

Richard Jacobs, the owner of the Jacobs Group, helped engineer the take-over Level Propane from Maloof through the check concealment scheme and the management of the company during the 2002-2003 heating season that it was under bankruptcy court jurisdiction. Representing himself as the white knight that would save Level Propane, he instead delivered the going concern assets to Amerigas three months after he obtained them out of bankruptcy.

The Jacobs Group owned Eaglerock Propane and Horizon Propane. It was active in attempts to take control of Level Propane since before the bankruptcy was filed. It entered into a management agreement with Level Propane in October, 2002, in which it offered to lend operating capital, manage the going concern until it could be sold and proposed terms of purchase. It entered this agreement after the Bank Group refused to extend further operating credit for the 2002-2003 heating season.

Michael Keram is a lobbyist from Kentucky.

Jeff Kessler was the cash room manager of Level Propane. He was presented with customer checks from the winter of 2002-2003 for deposit in the summer of 2003, after the going concern had been directed to Jacobs’ Horizon Propane, by John Verbos.

Ronald Labedz is an attorney who assisted in the investigation and the conduct of the interviews of the Examiner. He was present during the Maloof interview when the room was cleared twice for hidden listening devices.

Elliot Lester is a disbarred attorney and eight-time convicted felon who was brought to Level Propane by John Wagner as a crisis manager in January, 2002. During his tenure, he was attempted to steal Level’s computer system and learned enough about the operation to make a bid on behalf of Wynnchurch Capital in the failed September, 2002 auction. For his efforts, he was rewarded with a safe spot at Cornerstone Industries.

Michael Levy was an attorney who represented Maloof in 2003.

Michael Lissnerwas a cash auditor, a so-called “money cop” who had been at Level Propane in 2001.

Paul Lowe, a Jacobs Group employee, was on the Eaglerock Propane management team at Level and participated in the document disposal in 2002-2003.

William H. Maloof founded Park Place, Inc. and Level Propane Gases, Inc. In both of these enterprises, he pioneered new businesses responding to well-established needs by deployment of new approaches and new technologies.

Jeff Marwil, an attorney, represented the Bank Group. He directed that the “stalking horse,” which would have set the minimum bid for the going concern assets, be abandoned in the September, 2002 auction. He directed that the customer database and customer leased-tank database be decoupled so that the customer count and the tank count could be easily concealed.

Mary Masaitis, a Level employee, ran the hidden customer database from her home after it had been compromised in April, 2003.

William Mason is the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor.

Michael Mitchell was an in-house attorney at Level Propane.

Betty Montgomery was Ohio Attorney General and Richard Jacobs’ reputed beau. She instituted suit against Level Propane alleging consumer protection violations after the allegations had been resolved. She then, a President of the State Attorney Generals’ Association, got 14 other states to file similar suits against Level Propane.

Donald O’Connor was an attorney who represented Maloof.

Solomon Oliver is a United States District Judge in the Northern District of Ohio. The case from which Judge Boyko recused himself went to him. He was also the person who asked whether the bankruptcy judge was in on the scheme to seize control of Level Propane.

Jim Pavilchek was in charge of former Level Propane in Westlake, Ohio after it went to Amerigas.

Leo Plotkinwas an attorney who represented Maloof in 2003 and 2004.

Glenn Pollack was a principle of Candlewood Partners, who helped provide cover for the scheme with his claim that he brought Jacobs into the Level Propane deal in September, 2002.

Tim Polumskywas a banker at Provident Bank.

Anthony Pressly was an employee of Level. He was a witness to bulk document disposal.

Michael Primrose was an attorney at BFCA who frustrated Maloof’s attempts to obtain the Chapter 11 papers BFCA had prepared so that the Bank Group could file their involuntary Chapter 7 first.

Sean Riley was an attorney who had represented Level Propane in 2000.

Paul Rini is Judge Baxter’s court deputy.

Kevin Roberts represented BV Technology, which  held rights to some of the Level Propane computer system software.

John Rudd is a “turn-around” specialist formerly a principal of New Market Partners. He was an initial member of the October, 2000 scheme to seize control of Level Propane.

Brian Salvagni was General Counsel for Level prior to the bankruptcy. He attempted to obtain the papers BFCA had prepared for the Chapter 11 filing in June, 2002, but was rebuffed. Since that point, he was a vocal adversary of BFCA. He also triggered the investigation of the bulk document disposal of March, 2003. He famously complained that “Everyone is making a fortune off this bankruptcy but me.”

Mark Schlachet was of-counsel with BFCA. He originally brought Level to BFCA as a reorganization client, but Jim Hill took the file from him to the business practice. His counter-claim against BFCA triggered the appointment of the Examiner.

Bill Schonenberg was an attorney at BFCA, co-chair of the bankruptcy practice, he claimed that BFCA was never engaged to represent Level Propane in preparation of a bankruptcy petition.

Jeffrey Schwartz was an attorney at BFCA, chair of the bankruptcy practice. He worked with the Bank Group’s counsel to put Level into involuntary bankruptcy then was hired by the Bank Group as Debtors’ Counsel the day after the involuntary bankruptcy was filed.

Eric Schwartz is counsel for the Unsecured Creditors Committee.

Kenneth Seminatore referred Maloof to BFCA, specifically Mark Schlachet, for evaluation of a Chapter 11 filing. He represented Level in its malpractice suit against Squire, Sanders & Demsey over disclosures in its customer contract.

Kimberly Skaggsis an attorney with the Equal Justice Foundation who represents the Certified Class of Ohio Customers of Level Propane. The settlement she obtained for the Class was lost in the bankruptcy. She has joined the effort to vacate the conversion and revoke the plan confirmation.

Brent Smith was an investment banker with Blair & Co.

Star Gasis a national propane distributor. Its February, 2002, offer to purchase Level Propane’s home heat business was scuttled by BFCA working in concert with the Bank Group.

Steven Sueswas CEO of Level Propane while it was Debtor in Possession. He was also a charter member of the scheme to seize control of Level in 2000, with John Verbos and John Rudd.

Pat Tighe is an insurance broker, Safety Director, and Risk Manager. He was the first to discover that the Eaglerock Management team was engaging in bulk document disposal and bulk document shredding.

Sam Tinaglia was an investment banker with Blair & Co.

Mark Uhrich is the Administrator of the Level Propane Bankruptcy Liquidation Estate. He also recently joined Newmarket Partners.

Andrew Vara was with the U. S. Trustee’s Office in Cleveland. He worked with Glenn Pollack on the take-over of Level Propane by Eaglerock Propane (Jacobs Group.)

John Verbos was the Chief Information Officer of Level Propane. He was also the owner of BV Technology, which claimed the rights to the Level Propane Operating System. He was also charter member of the scheme to seize control of Level Propane with John Rudd and “RB” in 2000.

Ellen Verbos is John Verbos’ wife.

John Wagner was a charter member of the scheme to seize control of Level Propane in 2000. He brought Elliot Lester into Level Propane on the pretext of his experience as  a crisis manager.

G. Ray Warner was the Examiner in the Level Propane case. He submitted his report in June, 2003, after 30 days’ time conduct over twenty interviews and collect and analyze tens of thousands of pages of business records and court pleadings.

Samantha Whitesal was an employee of Level Propane who worked under Jeff Kessler in the cash room. She processed the customer payment checks from the heating season of 2002-2003 after they were presented to the cash room by Verbos in the summer of 2003.

Michael Zaverton was an attorney at BFCA who attempted to complete the Chapter 11 filings for Level Propane. He told Mark Schlachet that BFCA did whatever the Bank Group wanted in order keep its business.