Luca owner ordered to pay committee fees as part of contempt ruling

By Caroline Salls

Pittsburgh, Sept. 28 – Luca International Group LLC’s principal and sole owner Bingqing Yang is being held in contempt of court by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas for failing to appear in court and surrender any passports to the clerk of court, according to an order filed Friday.

On Sept. 10, Luca’s official committee of equity securities holders asked the court to order Yang to comply with a previous order transferring residential property to the company.

The court scheduled a hearing on the motion for Sept. 17 and ordered Yang to appear in person at the hearing and surrender her passports.

On Sept. 14, Yang objected to the committee’s motion and requested that she not be required to appear personally and that the hearing be continued for 30 days. Those requests were denied by the court.

According to Friday’s contempt order, Yang did not appear at the Sept. 17 hearing, nor did she surrender her passports. The court said it learned that at the time Yang filed her opposition she had already fled to China.

After acknowledging Yang’s contempt, her counsel was given the opportunity to provide a required deed by Sept. 24, which she did.

“The court finds that compensatory sanctions are appropriate to compensate the committee for the damage caused by Ms. Yang’s deliberate refusal to timely comply with this court’s orders,” Friday’s ruling said.

“The court finds, however, that coercive sanctions are no longer required due to the delivery of the required deed to debtor’s counsel.”

As a result, Yang was ordered to pay compensatory sanctions to the committee equal to attorneys’ fees and costs incurred as a result of her wrongful conduct.

Also, Yang is required to provide committee counsel a sworn statement identifying all real and personal property in which she owns an interest within 14 days of Friday’s order.

Luca International Group, a Houston-based explorer and producer of natural gas, petroleum and related hydrocarbons, filed for bankruptcy on Aug. 6. The Chapter 11 case number is 15-34221.

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