Blackjewel and committee look to examine conduct of former CEO Hoops

By Caroline Salls

Pittsburgh, Jan. 13 – Blackjewel, LLC and its official committee of unsecured creditors are seeking court approval to conduct an examination of former chief executive officer and president Jeff A. Hoops Sr. and related entities and individuals, according to a motion filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of West Virginia.

Specifically, Blackjewel and the committee are seeking approval to request documents and oral examinations of Hoops, Patricia A. Hoops, Jeffery Hoops Jr., Jeremy Hoops, Josh Hoops, Keith Runyon, Steven Poe and Brent Walls and representatives of Clearwater Investment Holdings, LLC, Grand Patrician Resort, LLC, Genesis Trucking, Black Diamond, Lexington Coal Co., LLC, Lexington Coal Royalty Co., LLC, Construction & Reclamation Services, Triple H Real Estate, LLC, Hoops Dynasty Trusts, Clearwater Trusts, JBLCO, LLC, Active Medical, Prep Plant Solutions LLC, Blackjewel Trust, Revelation Energy Trust, Lexington Trust, Walls & Associates, PLLC and Triple H Aviation, LLC.

“By the time of their Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings in July 2019, the debtors were woefully insolvent,” the motion said.

“This level of insolvency and the inevitable bankruptcy filings were the result of a years-long effort by Mr. Hoops to transfer tens of millions of dollars of the debtors’ assets for his benefit and the benefit of his family and other Hoops-related entities.”

The company and committee said the requested examinations would be the start of a process designed to make Blackjewel whole for these alleged transfers of assets, apparent self-dealing by Hoops and the Hoops parties and numerous other breaches of fiduciary duty.

Blackjewel and the committee said Hoops and the related entities stripped the company of millions of dollars-worth of assets and encumbered remaining assets with new obligations and liens, allegedly causing the Blackjewel debtors to suffer millions of dollars of losses annually.

“In the years prior to the petition date, the debtors had no realistic plan to return to profitability and solvency, yet all the while the Hoops parties continued to be unjustly enriched to the detriment of the debtors and their creditors,” the motion said.

Blackjewel is a Milton, W.Va.-based coal producer. The company filed bankruptcy on July 1 under Chapter 11 case number 19-30289.

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