Relatives of Kretz seek subpoenas in Hanover bankruptcy

After suing company, Arizona couple now seeks to intervene in involuntary liquidation proceedings; asks for evidence of ties with Cornerstone Church

Email | Print By E. Thomas Wood

Patrick and Lisa Reitmeyer, the Arizona couple who this month sued Nashville's Hanover Corp. and its principals Terry Kretz and Bud Thorpe, have asked a bankruptcy court for subpoenas that might help their lawyers get to the bottom of the $18 million Hanover case.

The Reitmeyers, who say in their lawsuit that they are related to Kretz but do not specify how, on Friday filed a request for what is known as a Rule 2004 examination (copy available at this link). If U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Keith M. Lundin rules in their favor, the court would compel Kretz and Thorpe to hand over a large amount of documentation about Hanover's affairs and to testify in a deposition to be held November 9th at the Nashville offices of law firm Miller & Martin.

The Arizonans filed a federal lawsuit on October 6th in an effort to recover some $734,000 they had invested with Hanover, which their legal complaint calls a "Ponzi scheme." Their lawsuit says as many as 150 people have put money into Hanover's promissory note investments, which promised to pay 2 percent per month in guaranteed interest. An investor presentation by Hanover in August indicated that the company took in at least $18 million from investors.

Several of the investors, as well as the proprietors of various Hanover portfolio companies and Kretz and Thorpe themselves, have connections to Madison's Cornerstone Church, a large fundamentalist congregation. Friday's filings would require Hanover to turn over any evidence of funds transfers from Hanover to the church or people acting on its behalf, as well as all e-mails and other communications between representatives of Hanover and Cornerstone.