To: Jeff Harrington who wrote (3884 ) 11/12/1998 3:12:00 PM From: Taki Respond to of 9824
Lets see if that old taki is telling the truth or is he Mortgage Bankers chairman sued By Thomas Olson TRIBUNE-REVIEW The chairman of a Carnegie-based mortgage banking company and his assistant have been sued in federal court by fellow officers who claim the pair sold company shares illegally and treat the company checkbook as their own. Other board member/officers of Mortgage Bankers Holding Corp. filed suit in federal court in Pittsburgh Tuesday seeking a temporary restraining order and unspecified damages. "This is a takeover fight, yes, but just over corporate compliance," said Pittsburgh attorney John A. Lee, who represents the plaintiffs. "It's not a fight over the profits of the company." MBHC is a publicly held, mortgage banking and consumer finance company whose stock trades over the counter. The stock closed yesterday at 5[1/2] cents a share. It had been as high as 75 cents on June 9 and as low as 3 cents a share Monday. The complaint alleges MBHC Chairman Raymond P. Sobieralski and Marjorie M. Kutzavitch, his administrative assistant, sold company shares without proper company authorization. The lawsuit also alleges the pair sold company shares in states where the stock was not registered. "The concern is they've been selling stock and not using the proceeds for stated corporate purposes," said Lee. He also said the plaintiffs believe some of that money may have gone into Sobieralski's own pocket. "But they don't know for sure because Sobieralski's got the checkbook locked up in his office," said Lee. Lee said the lawsuit was brought by John D'Onofrio, who was elected MBHC president in July; treasurer Timothy Smale; and senior vice president James Carr. "They are just trying to clean the place up and get them to comply with federal and state laws governing the sale of securities," said Lee. He said the MBHC board held a special meeting several days ago that ousted Sobieralski and replaced him with Carr, who is the head of MBHC's mortgage servicing subsidiary. Carr could not be reached yesterday. MBHC became an independent company in 1986. It employed about 50 people until a number of them were laid off in August, according to Lee. A company spokeswoman said yesterday Sobieralski was out of the office and could not be reached. She refused to comment further. Neither could Kutzavitch be reached yesterday. The lawsuit also alleges Sobieralski repeatedly wrote company checks "with the full knowledge" the company lacked sufficient funds to cover them throughout 1998. "As recently as Oct. 24, 1998, Sobieralski was served with a criminal complaint for his writing a bad check," the lawsuit said. The federal district court denied plaintiff's motion for a restraining order on procedural grounds, said Lee, who intends to re-petition the a bad guy.