A software consultant who headed a once-soaring firm that failed and left hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid debts has gone bankrupt after launching a successor company.
Christopher M. Carter, of Hales Corners, initially thrived as CEO of Carter Consulting LLC. Launched in 2002 and doing business as CCI, the firm expanded rapidly enough to win local “Future 50″ honors three years running, and ranked No. 174 on Inc. magazine’s 2008 list of the fastest-growing U.S. companies.
Carter, meanwhile, wrote opinion pieces criticizing the business climate in Milwaukee and Wisconsin, calling the city and state “a tax hell” and complaining of indifferent treatment by local bureaucrats.
By June 2009, though, Carter Consulting was seeking protection from creditors through receivership, a state court proceeding similar to bankruptcy.
A month later, a new firm, organized and owned by Christopher Carter, bought Carter Consulting in a court-approved receivership sale.
The new firm, HiLn LLC, agreed to assume a $327,000 secured debt Carter Consulting owed to Community Bank & Trust on a loan guaranteed by the U.S. Small Business Administration, court records show.
HiLn defaulted on the debt earlier this year, according to a lawsuit filed by Community Bank. With HiLn failing to respond to the bank’s complaint, Community last June won a judgment against HiLn and against Carter and his wife, who had guaranteed the debt.
In late August, the Carters filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The case was concluded late last month, with $1.3 million in debt wiped away. The trustee reported that the Carters had no assets that could legally be distributed to creditors.
The largest single unsecured creditor was Community Bank.
It’s unclear whether HiLn remains in business. The bankruptcy petition at one point spoke of it in the past tense and at another listed it as still in existence.
Carter did not reply to an email seeking comment. According to the petition, he was working in technical sales and also owned Sports Geeks USA LLC, which operates an Internet sports talk radio station.
Source:http://www.jsonline.com/business/carter30-mo3k7eo-136401853.html
