PHILIPPI, W.Va. (WBOY) — Alderson Broaddus University has officially filed for bankruptcy amid its closure and pending lawsuits regarding debt.
According to publicly accessible documents from the Northern District of West Virginia Federal Bankruptcy Court, the petition for Chapter 7 bankruptcy was filed just before 4:30 p.m. on Thursday.
AB owed money to between 100 and 199 creditors, totaling between $10- $50 million, according to Thursday’s filing. AB’s assets total between $1-$10 million, the filing also said.
Under a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, a businesses’ assets are liquidated to pay its creditors; it does not involve a plan for repayment, and creditors may not receive the full amount owed.
Listed in the filing are a number of AB’s creditors, including banks, credit card companies, utility companies, county, state and federal taxes, individuals and more. You can read the full filing here.
In a statement released to 12 News Thursday evening, AB addressed the filing, saying in part, “Although AB anticipates receiving an Employee Retention Credit payment from the Internal Revenue Service in an amount in excess of $1,000,000, those funds were not received in time to permit ongoing operation of AB. The AB Board of Trustees released a statement today notifying members of the campus community of their decision.”
AB’s affairs will now “be handled by the trustee who will be appointed by the Bankruptcy Court to oversee the collection and liquidation of AB’s assets and the payment of appropriate claims made by creditors,” the statement said.
AB’s authorization to award degrees in West Virginia was revoked by the Higher Education Policy Commission (HEPC) in late July, causing the near immediate closure of the school with the exception of seniors graduate in the fall.
The closure came just days after a Public Service Commission of West Virginia (PSC) filing revealed that university was hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt to the City of Philippi for utility bills.
In mid-August, the PSC approved a petition from the city that forced AB to prove why their utilities shouldn’t be shut off before Aug. 28. On Aug. 29, AB’s website appeared to be taken offline and it’s transcripts were transferred to West Virginia Wesleyan College, although the website appears to be functional as of Thursday.
