The Novelo's bankruptcy: $30 million of publicly guaranteed funds gone down the drain with very slim hope of recovering it. It's the biggest black eye in a quite sordid DFC portfolio full of hideous profiles of mismanagement, defaults, bad debts and general ruin. But no matter how bad it got for DFC, one man who never seemed to suffer was past Chairman Glenn Godfrey. And tonight, 7NEWS has obtained court papers which offer new evidence which suggests that Godfrey's law firm scored when Novelo's went bankrupt.
Action Number 177 in the Supreme Court which was entered in March of this year gave notice of foreclosure to Novelo's Bus Line and its various affiliates including Northern Southern and Western Transport companies as well as David, Tony and Polo Novelo’s. The claim was for $29,154,000 plus interest calculated at $10,000. Huge money, and that wasn't the end of it. The court document includes a claim for legal expenses of $2.9 million dollars, a full 10% of the money owed for, "enforcing or attempting to enforce the guarantee."
And whose claiming one of the largest legal paydays ever? Well, from the documents, the irresistible inference is that it is none other than Glenn d. Godfrey and Company. And what of the 10% fee in this case almost $3 million? Well, according to those we spoke with in the legal profession, normally, a fee in the range of 2% would be charged if the money is recovered payable when it is recovered.