Ruling due soon in Tamarack Resort bankruptcies

BOISE – A federal bankruptcy court judge said Friday he’ll decide within two weeks whether to dismiss the bankruptcy cases of two real estate companies that own a majority of troubled Tamarack Resort, a move that could help clear the way for investment bank Credit Suisse to gain control of the resort.

Attorneys for Jean-Pierre Boespflug, Tamarack’s chief executive officer who owns 50.6 percent of the resort, and Alfredo Miguel Afif, its chairman who owns 26 percent, and for Credit Suisse, participated in a three-hour court hearing.

Chief Bankruptcy Judge Terry Myers told them his decision would be rendered by Oct. 16.

Credit Suisse sued in March after Boespflug’s and Miguel’s companies didn’t fulfill their agreement to cover Tamarack’s debt obligations when the resort defaulted on a $260 million syndicated loan. The bank now contends Boespflug and Miguel inappropriately sought bankruptcy protection for their companies in order to buy time for the resort to find a new investor.

Friday’s hearing came a day after the Associated Press reported Boespflug planned to inject enough personal funding to open skiing in December – but wouldn’t commit to keeping the resort 90 miles north of Boise afloat until season’s end without additional money from new investors.

Construction on Tamarack’s Village Plaza centerpiece is at a standstill, with at least $56 million needed to finish the project. Tennis stars Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf bailed out of a luxury hotel project earlier this year, and Bank of America and Sterling Bank plan separate foreclosure auctions for the resort’s conference center and employee housing after Tamarack fell behind on payments.

In Friday’s hearing, Credit Suisse argued that when Boespflug’s Cross Atlantic Real Estate LLC and Miguel’s VPG Investments filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Feb. 15, they sought only to buy time. They acted in bad faith by seeking not to reorganize their own companies, but rather to buy time for Tamarack to restructure and to keep the bank from replacing resort management, Credit Suisse’s lawyers said.

“It’s crystal clear they filed the case to stop us from executing on our state law rights,” said Joel Samuels, an attorney for the Zurich-based bank. “They filed to use bankruptcy as a parking space.”

Justin May, Boespflug’s lawyer, countered that his client’s continued personal financial commitment to Tamarack after seeking bankruptcy protection was ample evidence that he was sincere about protecting not only his own stake, but also the value of the resort.

Boespflug has made $11 million in loans to the resort since April.