Ahmed Zayat

Two weeks after being granted an extra month to determine if Ahmed Zayat is hiding assets while seeking Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, the court-assigned trustee in the case told a federal judge Friday that the allegedly insolvent owner and breeder of Triple Crown champ American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile) is still trying to evade scrutiny by withholding records. And trustee Jeffrey Testa further warned that the longer the case drags on, the higher the risk is that Zayat will wipe away cloud-storage financials before the trustee can examine those documents....

The federal judge overseeing Ahmed Zayat's Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition has ordered that the trustee in the case will now have through Apr. 30 to pore over financial documentation to make sure the allegedly insolvent owner and breeder of Triple Crown champ American Pharoah isn't hiding assets. In a court order dated Mar. 31 that was filed Apr. 2 in United States Bankruptcy Court (District of New Jersey), Judge Vincent Papalia wrote that "the Trustee's time to file a complaint objecting to the Debtor's discharge is further extended..." In the...

On Mar. 16, Ahmed Zayat asked a federal judge not to grant the trustee in his bankruptcy case extra time that had been requested to scrutinize Zayat's finances so the trustee could make sure the owner and breeder of Triple Crown champ American Pharoah was telling the truth about not being able pay $19 million in debts because he allegedly only had $314.22 to his name. Now, one week later, MGG Investment Group, LP, the lender who is separately suing Zayat and his family members for allegedly obtaining a $24...

Ahmed Zayat, the financially embattled Thoroughbred breeder and owner whose insolvent business dealings are currently being scrutinized in three intertwined legal cases, revealed in an otherwise routine bankruptcy court filing Tuesday that prior to being sued for alleged fraud and loan defaults last year, he had lined up at least two global investment partners purportedly willing to pump hundreds of millions of dollars into his failing racing and bloodstock operation. Most notably, Zayat claimed he had been tantalizingly close--just days away--from securing a $100 million "equity infusion" from an undisclosed...

MGG Investment Group, LP, is already nearly a year into a civil lawsuit initiated to try and recoup $24 million in loan defaults by Ahmed Zayat and his family-owned bloodstock and racing operation. Now the New York-based lender is going after the insolvent Triple Crown-winning owner and breeder in a different court by trying to get a federal bankruptcy judge to rule that some of Zayat's debts shouldn't be legally forgiven under the Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection he is seeking because those loans were the product of years of systematic...

After nine months under court-appointed receivership to liquidate and manage its remaining equine assets, the insolvent Zayat Stables, LLC, is down to 12 remaining horses at eight locations, according to an October status report filed Nov. 11 in Kentucky's Fayette Circuit Court. One formerly valuable colt had to be given away during the most recent month of transactions: Lexington-based receiver Elizabeth Woodward wrote that she released the ownership of a 3-year-old Empire Maker--Duke's Dream colt "to offset boarding, training and veterinary charges which exceeded the estimated fair market value of...

Attorneys representing MGG Investment Group, LP, which is the plaintiff in a $24.5 million Kentucky civil lawsuit alleging fraud and loan defaults against Ahmed Zayat and his family's Zayat Stables, LLC, disclosed in a legal document filed Sept. 18 that the court-appointed receiver in that case intends to hold a November auction to sell off horses that are being held as collateral against the unpaid debts. News about this anticipated November auction was made public in the form of a letter dated Friday and filed in United States Bankruptcy Court,...

Ahmed Zayat's former financial advisor is among the entities now initiating an "involuntary bankruptcy" petition against Zayat's family-owned racing stable. This Sept. 14 court action comes six days after the allegedly insolvent Triple Crown-winning breeder and owner voluntarily filed for his own personal Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection. Although once prevalent, involuntary bankruptcy proceedings are now relatively uncommon in United States courts. They are designed to protect creditors, not debtors, and are often filed against companies (as opposed to individuals) as an attempt to get paid when it is believed that...

As far as marketing for a nascent, unorthodox racehorse ownership venture goes, you couldn't do much better than a horse carrying your silks into the Churchill Downs infield as the GI Kentucky Derby winner. That's what Michael Behrens experienced Saturday, as Authentic (Into Mischief), bought into by his MyRacehorse microshare partnership in June, fought off favored Tiz the Law (Constitution) past the Twin Spires to earn the garland of roses. Wednesday, Behrens joined the TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland as the Green Group Guest of the Week to...

Claiming access to only $300 in cash and $14.22 in two checking accounts, Ahmed Zayat, the financially embattled Triple Crown-winning breeder and owner, filed for Chapter 7 protection Sep. 8 in United States Bankruptcy Court in his home state of New Jersey. In court documents, Zayat is claiming $19,371,466 in total liabilities versus total estimated assets of $1,892,815. Thoroughbred trainers, horse farms, bloodstock businesses, veterinarians, and equine transportation companies are among the 132 entities listed as creditors who are due $14,755,1717 in "non-priority unsecured claims." In his legal filing, Zayat...

Judge Kimberly Bunnell has dismissed the New York-based lending firm MGG's attempt to place a lien on the stud fees and progeny of Solomini, to claim nine breeding rights to American Pharoah and the broodmare American Cleopatra, according to Gregory Parsons of States & Harbison, who represented the owners of Solomini in MGG's suit. The ruling was issued June 10 in Fayette, Kentucky Circuit Court. Solomini stands at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds, where he has bred 127 mares in his initial season at stud. In January, MGG filed a $23...

The court-appointed receiver for Zayat Stables has "identified unorthodox, possibly fraudulent billing practices and billing errors in which trainers and other care providers effectively over-billed costs as a means of increasing the Receiver's statutory lien obligations," according to a report filed in Fayette, Kentucky, Circuit Court May 5. No trainers or other care providers were identified, and no further detail was provided, only that the identification of these practices is now "resulting in a significant savings to the Receivership." The report was the third such monthly report submitted by Elizabeth...