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The Value of Salzano's PG By Kit Menkin The personal address of Peter J. Salzano is on the bankruptcy filing, which along with the actual public record is being passed around on the internet, including the suggestion to write him a “letter of congratulations, wishing him well.” In the filing of personal bankruptcy protection, the chairman and chief operation officer of NorVergence, as he referred to his position in various press releases, listed the 20 largest claims, disputing his signature to “personal guarantees” to several leasing companies. He claims a “rubber stamp” of his signature was utilized without his knowledge. He claims he never agreed to personally guarantee the leases in the “private label program.” Evidently NorVergence is “recourse” and/or has “representations and warranties” that included a personal guarantee from Mr. Salzano. This is turn may be more an Archiles heal in defense of “Equipment Rental Contracts. “ Issues of “due process” plus the sequence of “representations and warranties” will be in question. Since the filing of the bankruptcy, it certainly appears the personal guarantee will be of little financial value. Listed are: DeLage Landen Financial Services, Newark, NJ $681,197 American Express, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida $362,000 CIT, Jacksonville, Florida unknown GE Leasing/Capital, Portland, Oregon unknown ---and perhaps more important: the Internal Revenue Service and the Commonwealth of Pennsyvania ( N.J. AG Peter C. Harvey, Esq., has a suit involving fraud. ) All are marked “disputed” by Peter J. Salzano. Not mentioned in the bankruptcy filings, but surely to be included, is the probe regarding five days before the June 30 court action, NorVergence managed to wire more than $160,000 to two related companies, according to court papers. One, Network Digital Office Systems, is run by NorVergence Chief Executive Peter Salzano. The other, Data Solutions, provided the consulting services of Salzano's brother, Thomas, to NorVergence. It is Thomas N. Salzano who was supposedly “the brains” behind the company. He allegedly had a bankruptcy from a similar “scam” and could not be named as president. In a company press release, this statement was made: “The company was then founded after a year of NDA Development in 2001 by Peter J. Salzano Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. NorVergence is headquartered in Newark, New Jersey. Strategic Technology Solutions Providers include: Lucent, Cisco and IBM. Engineering Company with 38 offices Nationwide, over 1,200 employees and Engineers from some of the top technology firms in the world including: Nortel, Lucent, Cisco and IBM. The company is Drastically Reducing Technology Costs for Growing Companies.” Thomas N. Salzano was paid by NorVergence as a consultant, but reportedly he was at the headquarters most every day and referred to employees he was “chief managing officer” of the company. According to the Pensyvania Times-Record,”... i n the early 1990s, after running a freight consulting business, (Thomas N. )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. “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 ( Thomas N. )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.” http://www.state.nj.us/lps/images/hm_pg_images/oag-lps-hmpg-4-04_r1_c2.jpg Peter C. Harvey, New Jersey Attorney General Alex Wolf was the Chief Operation Officer, the person with the telecom sales background, and Robert J. Fine, reportedly president of NorVergence Capital and the one who arranged the “private label” contracts and placement of leases. They may be one of the “John Doe's” named in New Jersey Attorney General Peter C. Harvey's Here is a copy of the Peter J. Salzano's personal bankruptcy filing: |
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