Glenshaw Glass owner ordered to show assets, pay $57 million award

Date: 21 November 2003
Source: Post-gazette.com
A federal judge in Pittsburgh has ordered the owner of Glenshaw Glass Co. to produce an accurate list of assets and not sell any of it in preparation for paying a $57 million international arbitration judgment against his holding company.U.S.

District Judge Terrence McVerry this week ordered G&G Investments Inc., of Allison Park, owned by John Ghaznavi, to come up with the list by Dec. 4.

In July, McVerry upheld an arbitration award from the International Chamber of Commerce that ordered G&G to pay $57 million to Petra Buschmeier, who owned a glass container company in Germany.

McVerry said Buschmeier can proceed with her attempts to collect, even though Ghaznavi initially said G&G had only $747 and some furniture in assets. Ghaznavi later listed other assets, including a glass plant in Illinois, the Ghaznavi Family Trust, Glenshaw Holdings, Ghaznavi Canada Inc. and other entities.

Ghaznavi bought Glenshaw Glass in 1988 and later acquired controlling interest in several other glass companies, including Consumers Packaging Inc. of Toronto, which filed for bankruptcy in Canada in 2001. He could not be reached for comment.

"We think the debtor still has more to explain about its assets," said William Kealey, Buschmeier's lawyer in Indiana, where she and her husband maintain a residence.

The case began in 1999, when G&G filed an arbitration claim against Busch-meier after negotiations to buy her company failed. Before the arbitration board ruled, Anchor Glass, which was affiliated with G&G, filed a federal suit in Fort Wayne, Ind., over a $17 million initial payment G&G said Buschmeier had improperly kept before the deal fell through.

But the arbitration board ruled in December 2001 that G&G owed Buschmeier $57 million, which was the amount G&G had promised to pay for the German company's stock. While the Indiana suit was pending, Buschmeier filed her own claim in Pittsburgh to ask a judge to confirm the arbitration award, which McVerry did. The Indiana suit has since been dismissed.

See more news about: