NewLead's Coal Mining arm bankrupted

Jan Berkowitz, who had been chief executive of joint venture and is co-defendant in litigation pursued by trader TransAsia Commodities, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a federal court in his home state of North Carolina on Monday.Jan Berkowitz was scheduled to give deposition testimony in New York two days later, according to court papers.

But US bankruptcy filings serve to put a hold on legal actions, and in this case it is expected to derail the deposition. Serge Turko-led TransAsia sued Greek bulker owner NewLead Holdings, Berkowitz and their 50-50 venture in 2013 on allegations that they sold the trader coal that they did not have. In July, NewLead JMEG dropped counterclaims against TransAsia and conceded liability on some of the counts. But it continues to challenging the $6.2m sought by and claims by TransAsia, which is in UK court administration, that NewLead's coal mining announcements were aimed at bolstering its stock price. 

New York fight

The litigation is before Judge Charles Ramos of the New York Supreme Court.

Late last month, NewLead Holdings issued a series of press releases and securities filings disclosing that most of its deals aimed at bringing it into the US coal mining business did not materialise. The announcements also came days before the deposition of chief executive Michael Zolotas in the case. NewLead Holdings spokeswoman Elisa Gerouki says there is no link between the legal case and the releases.

She said the filings involved previously disclosed information and were instead linked to the company's decision to focus on shipping. 

The Berkowitz bankruptcy filing reports that he had between $1m and $10m in assets for the businessman and between $1m and $10m in debt.