Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza appointed a receiver Monday to represent John Rogers' photo archive businesses in a lawsuit filed last year by First Arkansas Bank & Trust of Jacksonville.
Michael McAfee of Little Rock was chosen as the receiver for all property controlled by businesses founded by Rogers, including, but not limited to, Sports Card Plus Inc., which does business as Rogers Photo Archive; Planet Giant LLC; Digital Stock Planet LLC; and Photo Archive Partners LLC, formerly known as John Rogers Partners.
Last fall, Rogers estimated that he has collected more than 60 million photos and negatives from about 50 newspapers worldwide. Rogers obtains the prints and negatives from newspapers with the promise that he will digitize the photos free of charge for the papers. In exchange, he can sell the photos or images at auction or over the Internet.
After the bank sued last year, McAfee was hired by the bank as a consultant to help Rogers' businesses to succeed.
None of the defendants in the lawsuit opposed McAfee being selected as receiver, Roger Rowe, an attorney for the bank, told Piazza.
At first, Robert Halpern, a business consultant from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., was recommended by Brett Myers of Dallas, Rogers' attorney. At a hearing in December, Myers said, "Just from what I've been able to uncover so far, Mr. McAfee doesn't have the industry experience as it relates to this type of industry. McAfee would have to be brought up to speed and [Halpern] is ready to go."
After being interviewed by both sides in the case in December, Halpern decided to withdraw from consideration, Rowe told Piazza. Myers said in an interview after Monday's hearing that he was uncertain why Halpern dropped out.
Most often, a receiver is appointed in a case when there has been a bankruptcy filing. Myers said after Monday's hearing that there has been no filing for bankruptcy.
"At this point we're evaluating all the options," Myers said about the possibility of filing bankruptcy. "If Mr. McAfee can turn the company around or generate some revenue for the company, that would be good for everybody."
Rogers, who has estimated that his photo archive business have a combined value of at least $300 million, would like to see what McAfee can do with the businesses, Myers said.
Rowe told Piazza that Rogers' businesses do not have any cash flow and are out of money.
"I don't know that I would agree [the businesses] are out of money," Myers said. "I think they have some projects that are ongoing that if, given more time, those projects could generate revenue and certainly operating capital for the company."
Myers acknowledged that the bank probably characterizes all of Rogers' businesses as being out of money.
In September, First Arkansas Bank & Trust sued Rogers and his businesses over $14.2 million in unpaid loans the bank made to Rogers.
Rogers and his wife, Angelica, were divorced last year and she was given full ownership of several of John Rogers' businesses. At least two of those businesses, Sports Cards Plus and Photo Archive Partners, are now under the control of the receiver.
Business on 01/06/2015