Thinkstream CEO Barry Bellue wants to be paid for helping a federal bankruptcy trustee sort out the software company’s financial troubles, or the executive may withdraw his assistance in the case.
A hearing is scheduled for Oct. 14 on a motion by Bellue’s lawyers seeking $3,000 a month in pay for the company’s founder, dating back to the day Thinkstream was forced into bankruptcy by its largest creditor, Folsom-based TSB Ventures. In August, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Douglas Dodd granted a request from trustee David Rubin to pay Bellue’s son, Lee Bellue, $7,000 a month to help manage the company.
Barry Bellue alleges he hasn’t been compensated since that bankruptcy filing, which is, according to the motion, “continuing to cause hardship for [Barry] Bellue and may cause him to cease his relationship with [Thinkstream].”
The Baton Rouge-based firm, which built a network that allow criminal justice agencies to instantly access information from one another’s databases, has $21.6 million in debt, according to the latest filings in the case. TSB Ventures allegedly is owed $9.8 million; First National Bank of Commerce in New Orleans, $6.74 million. Among the unsecured creditors—estimated at $4.1 million—are a number of prominent business executives. Among them: retired NBA star Shaquille O’Neal, D.C. lobbying firm The Livingston Group, and members of the Pennington and Pizzolato families.
Under Barry Bellue’s leadership, the U.S. Department of Labor cracked down on top executives for neglecting to invest employee contributions into 401(k)s, and he was required to attend fiduciary responsibility training and permanently barred from managing any other employee benefit plan. The company also defaulted on multiple loans and allegedly fell behind on payroll. The company’s former chairman, LNG Development LP CEO Michael Smith, resigned in March, saying he was “shocked … to find out how seriously I have been misled and had information hidden from me.”
But in the motion filed this month, New Orleans attorney Barry Grodsky writes that “[Barry] Bellue’s guidance, leadership, knowledge, skill and experience are critical to any ongoing function of the business. Without Bellue the company would not be able to continue its operation or, of equal importance, maintain the critical relationships with its customers.”
The motion suggests Barry Bellue’s continued involvement in the company “would be of great importance to not only [Thinkstream] but to its creditors and shareholders.” Grodsky argues that during the bankruptcy proceedings, Barry Bellue worked with potential investors to seek an infusion of capital, assisted the trustee in collecting accounts receivable as well as the management and financial affairs of Thinkstream, and worked to establish partnerships for “potential multimillion-dollar contract with Los Angeles County, Pennsylvania.”
The motion argues the trustee “lacks the technical skill knowledge and experience” in the industry, and that Barry Bellue’s “ongoing cooperation is absolutely needed to assist the trustee. The business would irreparably suffer should all of [Barry] Bellue’s activities cease.”
The October hearing on the matter is set for 11 a.m. in Baton Rouge federal bankruptcy court.
—Penny Font
