Would-be Minnesota Vikings owner files for bankruptcy in Las Vegas for second time

Grace Leong

Thursday, Feb. 8, 2001 | 11:46 a.m.

Anil Kumar Gupta of Las Vegas -- who gained national headlines with his bizzare and failed bid in 1998 to buy the NFL's Minnesota Vikings -- filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection on Feb. 2 to avoid being evicted from his home.

Chapter 7 typically involves the liquidation of a debtor's assets.

Gupta, who filed Chapter 7 in Las Vegas for the second time since 1997, sought Wednesday to dismiss the bankruptcy petition he had filed a few days earlier. He said it was "erroneously" filed because it breached bankruptcy law's six-year limitation on the re-filing of bankruptcy petitions.

He first filed Chapter 7 on Jan. 3, 1997. That filing was discharged on April 8, 1997.

Gupta filed for bankruptcy Feb. 2 to stay an order that his largest creditor, Jeannie Sutherland, won on Jan. 29 that would have forced Gupta to vacate a Las Vegas home he occupies.

Gupta was required to pay $5,000 to Sutherland in return for her extending the escrow closing on Gupta's purchase of the home to Feb. 2 from Jan. 24.

Gupta, his wife, Shruti Misra, and his company AHA Holding Trust were sued on Oct. 11 in Clark County District Court by Sutherland, who said she agreed to sell the property to the couple in 1999 for $1.1 million. Sutherland sought to strip Gupta of his claim on the property after he allegedly failed to close escrow despite receiving several extensions for payment after taking occupancy on Nov. 1, 1999.

But the defendants countersued Sutherland on Oct. 12, alleging she had agreed to give them "reasonable time to close escrow up to Jan. 15, 2001, as long they pay $6,000 a month for escrow extensions."

Gupta listed assets of $1.399 million, which include the $1.379 million claimed value of the home and personal assets of $20,200. He listed liabilities of $1.379 million. He also filed Chapter 7 on behalf of AHA on Feb. 5. AHA listed assets and liabilities of $1.379 million each.

Gordon Richards, Sutherland's attorney, said his client filed a motion Wednesday to lift the stay on proceedings against AHA holding. A hearing is scheduled March 5.

"Sutherland raised the price to $1.379 million because I took time to close escrow," Gupta said. "We filed bankruptcy because she didn't want to wait anymore and hurried me to pay up the entire balance in one lump sum instead of installments."

But Sutherland denied the allegations. "I did not raise the price. He raised the price. We have no escrow, no earnest money. He is a squatter in the property and he won't vacate and he hasn't bought the property."

Gupta, who said he has paid about $354,000 of the $1.379 million to date, said he is supposed to receive $1 million from a Brussels-based organization called International Fund for Humanitarian Development to pay Sutherland. Gupta said the funds are due to him because he had previously placed his assets with the group.

But an attorney for the fund today denied it owes Gupta anything or has anything to do with him.

"The IFHD doesn't give individuals funds like this," said Tony Nasharr, Chicago-based attorney for IFHD.

Discussing his failed bid to buy the Vikings for $225 million, Gupta on Wednesday denied claims that he and his wife had boasted of Misra's wealth in 1998. At the time, Gupta claimed Misra was worth $5 billion, the Sun reported.

At the time, Gupta had claimed U.S. Guarantee Corp. of Scottsdale, Ariz., had committed to finance the Vikings transaction.

"U.S. Guarantee proposed buying the Minnesota Vikings after researching various teams," he said Wednesday. "U.S. Guarantee said that if I could get the International Fund to put up the collateral, then U.S. Guarantee will get a line of credit to buy the team, and I would have my name on the deal."

Nasharr denied Gupta's claims.

Gupta also disputed charges reported in the Sun in 1998 that he and his wife made a phony $5.1 million donation using worthless railroad bonds and unconfirmed real estate holdings to Active Blind and Visually Impaired of Nevada, a charitable organization for the blind.

"That $5.1 million was allocated to me by the International Fund, but it reneged and used the money for another humanitarian project. When the money didn't materialize, I gave some mining claims as a token to the Active Blind."

"The idea was for Active Blind to sell these claims to someone else, and it could have sold the claims for $2,000-$3,000 an acre, according to a Nevada geologist report," he said. The unpatented mining claims were for 42 acres of desert in Esmeralda County.

Nasharr denied Gupta's claims.

Records show Gupta, his wife and companies were also involved in 11 other lawsuits between 1992 and 2000 in Clark County District Court.

Gupta, who was accused of "hiding and secreting" the car, alleged it was being repaired in California and claims the loan company didn't respond to his offer to pay cash for the loan.

The suit was dismissed on Feb. 17, 2000. Gupta said he was paid $10,000 in legal fees and donated a $15,000 settlement award to charity.

Gupta allegedly falsely reported the deeds of trust to have "a value commensurate with the stock value" and that he has a valid interest in the properties. In fact, the property was in foreclosure and he had no valid interest, the complaint said.

Gupta entered a plea of no contest to the crime of conspiracy to commit theft on Aug. 22, 1996, and was fined $2,000 on Oct. 29, 1996.

Kaufman alleged Gupta sold the property to Pepperell without the first and second trust deed holders' consent.

Kaufman won a $14,258 judgement and $5,000 in attorneys' fees on Oct. 12, 1994, against Gupta, but his attorney, Greg Wilde, said Kaufman was unable to collect on the judgement.

Groitzsch said he made the loan because of the defendants' claims that they were in "possession of bonds that are worth about 50 times their face amount and that the loan funds were required to perfect their interest and for costs to process and transfer to potential buyers of the bonds."

But Groitzsch's suit was dismissed on Jan. 2 because he "failed to prove sufficient case for the court," a court ruling said.

The suit was dismissed on Jan. 13, 1995.

Hill alleged the property was sold to Gupta by John Hill on an alleged forged deed.

The suit was dismissed on Feb. 13, 1995.

The Panters, who sold their four vacant lots to Gupta for $42,900 a piece, said they were tricked into taking a substantial part of the purchase price as notes secured by trust deeds subordinated to the lenders' construction loans that were made to either Gupta or third-parties who were allegedly likely to default.

The Panters' charges against Brentwood was dismissed on Jan. 31, 1995, while charges against the Westerns were dismissed on Feb. 1, 1995. The remainder of the case is pending.