The top creditor of Robin Lehner accused the Vegas Golden Knights goaltender of fraud in obtaining the debt and asked a bankruptcy court to require him to pay what he owes the lender, according to a court filing. And in a separate motion, credit card brand American Express is also alleging fraud in seeking payment of the Swede’s outstanding consumer bills.
Lehner and his wife, Donya, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection on Dec. 30, later listing $5.2 million of assets and $27.3 million of liabilities. The creditor filing by Aliya Growth Fund (AGF), which loaned Lehner $4.75 million six weeks before he filed for bankruptcy, is the first signal that the process will not be smooth and is unlikely to end by the close of the year, as the debtor had suggested in previous court filings. Its 14-page complaint, in which Aliya asks for a trial, uses the terms “fraud” and “fraudulent” 10 times.
In bankruptcy proceedings, individual creditors can object to their debt getting wiped out, or discharged, and seek what is called an adversarial proceeding, which is essentially a bench trial. The bankruptcy code does not allow debt to be eliminated if it was obtained under false pretenses.
Aliya’s lawyers wrote that the Lehners solicited and received significant sums of money from…
