Napa Valley vintner & drywall mogul forced into corner by bankruptcy court

Southern California drywall mogul Michael Ru Bello, who federal records allege looted his company to support a luxury lifestyle that included a Rolls Royce, thoroughbred race horses and a Napa Valley winery, may have been forced into a corner by a default on an $18 million payment settlement agreement.

 

Bello is listed in bankruptcy documents as the sole owner and manager of the WallDesign drywall construction business which collapsed in the Great Recession. The company filed for Chapter 11 in January 2012 in Federal Bankruptcy Court in Santa Ana, CA.

 

According to the most recent court filing by the bankruptcy trustee:

Debtor Nancy Bello and her husband Michael Bello obtained not less than $18 million in money, property, and services by actual fraud; specifically, by directing Walldesign to make actually fraudulent and other improper transfers of its assets for Nancy and Michael Bello’s direct and indirect personal benefit….

Access to that full, 277-page court document is available at this link for Wine Executive News premium subscribers. More premium access court documents are available at the bottom of this article.

Also In This Article:

Wine Executive News subscribers please click here to read the complete 1,176-word article.

• The “Right to Attach” order, settlement & default

• The convoluted path to default

• Default could force Michael Bello into Personal Bankruptcy

• The background

Not a Wine Executive News subscriber?

Subscribe to Wine Executive News now, and get the rest of this original article along with everything else on the site every day, including original documents, spreadsheets,and source materials for just $24.99 per month or $189 per year. Exclusive full court do

Previous Wine Industry Insight coverage of the Bello bankruptcy

• Bello Family Vineyards Rutherford estate bankruptcy auction. Turf battles & new legal complications raise doubts

• Bello Vineyard sale pending brings lower price, possible issues with clear title to real estate

• Bello Family Vineyards Rutherford estate property set for bankruptcy auction

• Bello’s SoCal bankruptcy causes waves in wine country

• Bello bankruptcy clawback victims strike back with their own lawsuits

• Yao Family Wines Buys Bello’s Former St. Helena Tasting Room

Wine Executive News subscribers may access these full court documents:

• Bankruptcy trustee filing on Bello default (PDF: 277 pages)

• McConaghy Declaration-Pacer2096

• Memo Santa Rosa Trustee Opposition To Transfer To Santa Ana

• Nancy Bello clawback motion

• Motion to continue hearing-092716.pdf

• Motion to transfer Nancy Bello to Santa Ana WallDesign BK

• The complete court approved liquidation document

• The list of 82 clawback victims in Bello’s WallDesign Bankruptcy

• Bella Casa Superior Court Complaint

• Abreu Superior Court Complaint