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NorVergence Founders Back in Business The name of his new business is Network Digital Office Systems, Inc. It was formed by a lawyer, as is a common practice, so Mr. Salzano's name does not appear. http://leasingnews.org/PDF/Monthly_report_May_05.pdf Status Report on Peter J. Salzano May 31,2005 (note the former president of NorVergence filed personal bankruptcy and a requirement is to keep up to date personal assets and liabilities. It should also be noted that many have told Leasing News the “real” president was his brother Thomas N. Salzano. He could not be named as president as he had a “nefarious” past. According to the New Jersey Register Record: Running a phone company into bankruptcy is nothing new for Thomas N. Salzano. Before his ill-fated venture, Newark-based NorVergence, folded last month, Salzano headed up a different phone company. In the early 1990s, after running a freight consulting business, Salzano founded Minimum Rate Pricing Inc. in Bloomfield, a reseller of residential long-distance phone service that eventually hired hundreds of people but ran afoul of federal regulators in 1998 when customers complained that MRP illegally switched their long-distance, a technique known as slamming. A settlement was reached, and MRP agreed to pay a $1.2 million fine to the Federal Communications Commission. But over the next few months, MRP's business imploded. The company, which bought its long-distance service wholesale from WorldCom (now MCI), racked up $67 million in debt, according to court papers, and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, along with some related companies, in February 1999. "It was out of control," recalled Brian Engle, a turnaround specialist brought in by the creditors.” They weren't looking at their costs; the philosophy was, more revenue will solve the problem." Months later, creditors battled in court for the remaining scraps, saying in court papers that Salzano set up "The Telecom Education Trust," a college trust fund for Salzano's five children, into which was funneled $250,000 in company funds. Warren Martin, a New Jersey lawyer who represented the creditors' committee, said a judge ordered that money returned. Creditors also accused Salzano of transferring $2.7 million in company funds to a Swiss bank while the company was in bankruptcy proceedings. But the creditors decided it wasn't worth the cost and effort to pursue those charges, Martin recalled. "Essentially, the business went away and there was nothing left but a bunch of lawsuits," he said. In the end, the bankruptcy court allowed WorldCom, the largest creditor, to buy the remaining MRP customers, using part of its debt as payment, Engle said. MRP customers became WorldCom customers. And Salzano started to plan his next venture: NorVergence. Here are Peter J. Salazano's assets and liabilities that he publically declared to the bankruptcy court for the month ending May 30,2005 http://leasingnews.org/PDF/NJ_Business_Entity.pdf Here is his original bankruptcy filing: http://leasingnews.org/PDF/SalzanoPBankruptyFling.pdf
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