Metropolitan Mortgage

Festering problems between bankrupt Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities and its valuable insurance affiliate threaten to cut the amount creditors could get back. "We have a bunch of investors over the age of 70 … and all of us should exist only to find as much money for these folks as possible," said Ford Elsaesser, an attorney for another Metropolitan affiliate.

A decision on a the fate of three insurance affiliates of bankrupt Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Co. might be weeks away, according to the Washington state Office of the Insurance Commissioner. Though several bids were submitted in late May, regulators are moving slowly on the sale of Spokane-based Western United Life Assurance Co., Old Standard Life Insurance Co., of Idaho, and Old West Annuity and Life Insurance Co., of Arizona. The three companies were offered for sale as a package deal with the goal of earning cash for thousands of Metropolitan creditors.

Bids to buy the three insurance affiliates of bankrupt Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Inc. will be kept confidential until a purchaser is announced. The companies, including Spokane-based Western United Life Assurance Co., Old Standard Life Insurance Co., of Idaho, and Old West Annuity and Life Insurance Co., of Arizona, were put up for sale together in late March by the insurance commissioners of the three states.

Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Co. may sue former chairman and CEO C. Paul Sandifur Jr. and his ex-wife, Helen Sandifur, for millions of dollars, alleging that they profited even as the company began to fail. The $2.7 billion financial services conglomerate filed for bankruptcy last year amid accounting problems and federal investigations. Now under new management, the company is duty-bound to pursue every possible cash recovery for creditors, says Maggie Lyons, acting CEO of Metropolitan.

Sun, surf, sand and serenity. These are qualities that could help creditors in the Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities bankruptcy get more money back from their failed investments.

The thousands of creditors holding notes from failed Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities should receive a small recovery beginning this fall, according to a reorganization plan filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. The amended plan envisions the sale of all remaining Metropolitan property and financial holdings. The money would be placed in special creditors' trusts and disbursed by a trustee.

Insurance commissioners from Washington and Idaho have ordered the combined sale of three insurance companies owned by bankrupt Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Co. Money from the sale should boost the financial recovery of Metropolitan creditors, estimated now at around 15 cents on the dollar, and marks significant progress in the bankruptcy case.

Investors battered by the failure of Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Co. should get a look next month at a revised Bankruptcy Court plan that estimates a return to them of 15 cents on the dollar. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Patricia Williams issued a terse 30-word order last month for lawyers in the case to submit the new plan of reorganization to hasten the conclusion of Spokane's largest business failure.