Appalachia

The Charleston Gazette
Sunday, October 5, 2014
Freedom Industries bankruptcy inquiry ‘frozen’ during cleanup
By Ken Ward Jr., Staff writer

Officials managing the bankruptcy of Freedom Industries have yet to investigate whether Freedom could take legal action against any of the company’s former officers over the events that led to the January chemical leak into the Elk River, court records show.

So far, there also has been no investigation of whether Freedom is owed money for fraudulent transfers of funds that — if recovered — could be used to pay Freedom’s creditors and to compensate victims of the leak.

The investigations appear to be on hold while U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Ronald Pearson presses Freedom to focus on cleaning up the site, even though any recovered money also could be funneled to that project to ensure proper remediation of any contamination at Freedom’s facility just 1.5 miles up the Elk River from the region’s drinking-water intake.

In a legal filing last month, a court-appointed committee of Freedom creditors said “a critical component of this case” is to investigate whether Freedom’s bankruptcy estate “has any causes of action that should be pursued for the benefit of creditors.”

- See more at: http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20141005/GZ01/141009660/1419#sthash.KeWgCx3n.dpuf