Developer faces fines for dodging creditors

Once-prominent developer William Plise faces rapidly escalating fines for ignoring U.S. Bankruptcy Court orders to answer questions from a creditor who suspects that he engineered an elaborate shell game with his assets.

After finding Plise in contempt on Wednesday, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Linda Riegle imposed a fine schedule on him that starts at $75 a day for the first 10 days he continues to dodge creditor CML-NV One LLC. The fine doubles for the following 10 days, triples for the 10 days after that and continues to escalate at that same pace until he complies.

Attorneys for CML-NV, a unit of home- building giant Lennar Corp. that buys up distressed debt, tried for two months to get Plise to face them in person and to produce documents about his financial affairs. Different dates were discussed or set, but he never appeared.

Plise filed his Chapter 7 case in April to wipe out debts totaling $506.5 million, almost all resulting from personal guarantees on projects loans before the real estate collapse. Almost half of the debt was tied to City Crossing, a $2 billion mixed-used project that Plise planned for Henderson but didn't build.

CML-NV paid $880,000 for a City Crossing loan originally made by the failed Silver State Bank, and last year won a U.S. District Court default judgment for $18.9 million.

CML-NV attorney Rodney Jean sketched a pattern of Plise shifting assets out of his name while retaining debts that can be erased through bankruptcy. For example, he described Plise's 2008 divorce from Tenille Plise as a "sham" that transferred cash and personal property to her, making them beyond creditors' reach.

"The only reason Tenille, Plise's ex-wife, would assist with this scheme is because her divorce from Plise was not bona fide and, at the very least, the transfer of property through the divorce was a fraudulent transfer," Jean wrote in court papers.

Jon Field, a former Plise associate general counsel who filed the bankruptcy and later withdrew, said in a July 11 email that Plise was avoiding appearing before CML-NV because it would be a burden to produce what could be thousands of pages of documents. Without the documents, Field wrote, "there is no point to an oral exam."

"Mr. Plise appreciates the bankruptcy process," Field continued. "He is aware of his obligations. He is not refusing to cooperate. If you take this matter to court, I'm sure the judge will see that your client is being unreasonable."

However, no one appeared for Plise at the hearing.

Plise associate Michael Halverson was also hit with the same fines for not facing CML-NV about his role in the asset maneuvers.

Financial statements Plise filed with the court show $4,700 in assets and $30,555 in income the past two years, from gambling. He did not report any current housing expenses but spends $1,200 a month on a recreational vehicle where he keeps his belongings.

Contact reporter Tim O'Reiley at
toreiley@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290.