DOWNTOWN YOUNGSTOWN Stambaugh Building owner faces heat for bookkeeping

Heavy debt has forced the owner of an office building into bankruptcy court.
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
YOUNGSTOWN -- A federal agency wants the operator of the Stambaugh Building downtown to be replaced, saying finances show he isn't capable of leading his companies out of bankruptcy.
Jeffrey Moffie, majority owner of the 12-story office building, has improperly shifted money between various companies he controls, says a motion filed by the U.S. Trustee's Office in federal bankruptcy court in Youngstown.
It says the companies distributed revenue on an "as needed" basis without normal corporate procedures, shared a bank account and mingled assets and liabilities.
The motion also says that Moffie, who has filed for personal bankruptcy, has used funds from these businesses to pay for personal expenses without properly documenting them or recording them as income.
An independent executive is needed to control expenses and review past finances in order to split assets and liabilities between the companies, said Lenore Kleinman, an attorney with the Trustee's Office that monitors cases in bankruptcy court.
A hearing on the request is to be Dec. 18.
Response
Andrew Suhar, an attorney for Moffie, said an independent executive isn't needed because the mingling of corporate accounts stopped when the companies filed for bankruptcy protection last month.
He said he didn't know of any personal expenses being paid with company funds.
Suhar said Moffie intends to restructure the debt of Stambaugh Associates, which owns the building, and emerge from bankruptcy court as a reorganized company. He said Moffie wants to maintain normal operations to keep the building's tenants.
Moffie would entertain sale offers for the building but hasn't received any, his attorney said.
About the building
Stambaugh Associates bought the 96-year-old building in 1997 from H.L. Libby Corp. for $950,000 and announced plans to upgrade the former headquarters for Youngstown Sheet & amp; Tube.
Much of the building is vacant, but its main tenants are BW-3 restaurant, Key Bank and Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber. It recently began renting apartments in the building.
Suhar said the debt on the building would be manageable if the building was filled but is too high for current occupancy levels.
Stambaugh Associates' bankruptcy filing last month said it has liabilities of $6.5 million, including a $4.5 million mortgage with Old West Annuity & amp; Life Insurance Co. of Spokane, Wash., and a $1.8 million mortgage with Pacific Coast Investment Co. of Seattle.
It lists assets of less than $1 million.
Moffie owns 78 percent of the company, with two Shaker Heights residents owning the rest.
More bankruptcies
Also filing for bankruptcy protection were Cambridge Realty, which owns a parking garage on Champion Street, and Cambridge Woodbridge Apartments, which owns apartments in Mansfield, and Cambridge MBSL Management. Moffie owns 100 percent of those companies.
Moffie's personal bankruptcy lists assets of $570,000 and liabilities of $8.3 million, most of which are personal guarantees on the two mortgages for the Stambaugh Building.
He lists his personal income at $2,800 a month and his expenses at $8,800 a month, including $1,600 for his mortgage payment, $1,500 for a housekeeper, $900 for car payments and $400 for a motorcycle payment.
shilling@vindy.com