Chapter 7

The trustee in Ahmed Zayat's personal bankruptcy case has negotiated a $1.5-million settlement to be paid by the debtor's brother, Sherif Zayat, that a court document stated will "resolve all claims and causes of action" related to the multiple mortgages on Zayat's home. The motion for approval of that settlement, if so ordered by a judge in a New Jersey federal bankruptcy court July 6, doesn't mean the end to the complicated, now 21-month-long Chapter 7 petition by the allegedly insolvent former Thoroughbred owner and breeder. But it does mean...

Ahmed Zayat's attempt to get out from under $19 million in debt has reached yet another--and purportedly intentional--legal bottleneck. The trustee assigned to the case is now alleging that three children and the wife of the financially strapped owner and breeder of Triple Crown champ American Pharoah are refusing to cooperate in providing documentation the trustee had subpoenaed from them to try and trace millions of dollars in possibly fraudulent transfers. "[T]he Trustee's investigation reveals that the Debtor and his family members have engaged in a pattern of intermingling of...

After nine months under court-appointed receivership to liquidate and manage its remaining equine assets, the insolvent Zayat Stables, LLC, is down to 12 remaining horses at eight locations, according to an October status report filed Nov. 11 in Kentucky's Fayette Circuit Court. One formerly valuable colt had to be given away during the most recent month of transactions: Lexington-based receiver Elizabeth Woodward wrote that she released the ownership of a 3-year-old Empire Maker--Duke's Dream colt "to offset boarding, training and veterinary charges which exceeded the estimated fair market value of...

Claiming access to only $300 in cash and $14.22 in two checking accounts, Ahmed Zayat, the financially embattled Triple Crown-winning breeder and owner, filed for Chapter 7 protection Sep. 8 in United States Bankruptcy Court in his home state of New Jersey. In court documents, Zayat is claiming $19,371,466 in total liabilities versus total estimated assets of $1,892,815. Thoroughbred trainers, horse farms, bloodstock businesses, veterinarians, and equine transportation companies are among the 132 entities listed as creditors who are due $14,755,1717 in "non-priority unsecured claims." In his legal filing, Zayat...