A press release dated October 29, 2020 announced that David Gentile’s GPB Capital Holdings just sold 15 of its Prime Automotive dealerships:

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Oct. 29, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Haig Partners LLC,  the leading buy sell advisor to auto dealers, was the exclusive financial advisor to Prime Automotive Group (“Prime”) in the sale of 15 dealerships in various markets across the US.  Akerman LLP provided legal counsel.

“We decided last year to focus our efforts in our core market here in New England and the Northeast. As a result, we retained Alan Haig and the team at Haig Partners to assist us in divesting dealerships and platforms in outlying markets. Our intention is to use the capital generated from these sales to buy additional dealerships in the Northeast,” said Todd Skelton, Chief Executive Officer of Prime Automotive Group… They negotiated excellent terms for our assets.” These dealerships include:

• Ron Carter Chevrolet-Buick-GMC, Alvin, TX
• Ron Carter Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge-Ram, Alvin, TX
• Ron Carter Ford, Alvin, TX
• Kenny Ross Ford South, Castle Shannon, PA
• Kenny Ross Ford, Adamsburg, PA
• Kenny Ross Chevrolet-Buick-GMC, North Huntingdon, PA
• Kenny Ross Subaru, North Huntingdon, PA
• Kenny Ross Mazda, North Huntingdon, PA
• Kenny Ross Chevrolet-Cadillac, Somerset, PA
• FX Caprara Chevrolet-Buick, Pulaski, NY
• FX Caprara Ford in Pulaski, NY
• FX Caprara Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge-Ram, Watertown NY
• FX Caprara VW, Watertown, NY
• Nissan of North Plainfield, NJ
• Subaru of White River Junction, VT

This press release is altogether strange. Prime Auto boss Todd Skelton declares that the auto dealerships he sold in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Vermont are outside of Prime’s core market in the Northeast or New England. This geographical nonsense is absurd on its face. Something else is going on.

A news story of October 10, 2020 reported that Prime Auto’s Kenny Ross Chevrolet Buick GMC in North Huntingdon, Pennsylvania was sold to Riverview Automotive Group. The story contained this statement:

The transaction is not yet on file with the Recorder of Deeds. The Chevrolet dealership sits on 11.5 acres along the south side of Route 30 owned by 11250 US 30 Realty LLC, part of the GPB Automotive Portfolio of New York City, according county records. The New York City company acquired the dealership from KR-C II, which was owned by James Ross, Anthony Ross and Joanne Ross Simon, for $6.5 million in March 2018. KR-C operated the business under a lease agreement that was terminated last month.

One detail is unclear: Did GPB Capital sell the Kenny Ross dealership and keep the land underneath it that is owned by GPB’s 11250 US 30 Realty LLC?

An earlier press release dated June 8, 2020 shows that GPB Cars 12 LLC — which is a sub-fund within GPB Automotive — sold its North Plainfield Nissan dealership to a company named Plainfield Nissan LLC:

Akerman LLP, a top 100 U.S. law firm serving clients across the Americas, advised GPB Cars 12 LLC, an investment of GPB Holdings, LP its sale of North Plainfield Nissan to North Plainfield Nissan LLC, a private auto dealership group. The transaction closed on June 8, 2020.

This sale is exceptionally strange as Patrick Dibre was the original owner of North Plainfield Nissan. He sold this dealership to GPB Automotive and has now purchased it back using a New Jersey entity called North Plainfield Nissan LLC; the date of incorporation of this entity is May 5, 2020.

What is going on here? North Plainfield Nissan was part of the acrimonious lawsuit between GPB Capital and Dibre. In that 2017 lawsuit, GPB alleged:

11. In particular, Dibre’s actions included the following: (1) his actions resulted in more than eighteen consecutive months of poor performance at Nissan of North Plainfield (“NPN”); (2) it was discovered that he had systematically hidden to disclose an ongoing Attorney General investigation into sales practices at NPN that has extended for more than one year; (3) Dibre embezzled the benefit of numerous employees of Garden City Nissan (“GCN’) and NPN to perform services at dealerships of which he was the sole owner, even though GCN and NPN solely paid their salaries; (4) Dibre diverted corporate opportunities with respect to profiting from used cars at GCN and NPN to GPB’s detriment and his own benefit; and (5) Dibre misappropriated money from GCN and NPN. (GPB Capital Holdings et. al. v. Patrick Dibre. New York Supreme Court Index No. 60641/2017)

Despite the allegations and bad blood between the two parties — Dibre went so far as to call GPB a Ponzi scheme in his answer to GPB’s complaint — Dibre has now purchased North Plainfield Nissan back from GPB Automotive.

WASTE MANAGEMENT

An undated announcement posted at the Five Star Carting website: Cogent Waste Solutions LLC. is pleased to announce that it has recently acquired the assets of GPB Waste DBA Five Star Carting.

Five Star Carting was raided by the FBI in February 2019 when GPB owned it. GPB’s HQ office in New York City was raided on the same day.

Cogent Waste Solutions LLC was incorporated in New York on March 21, 2019 — a few weeks after the FBI raid. The timing raises questions: Did GPB Capital make arrangements to sell Five Star Carting after the FBI raid in order to head off a BIC action in which GPB was ordered to sell Five Star Carting?

In a 2019 National Labor Relations Board legal action, the ownership of Five Star Carting was stated this way:

Armada Waste NY LLC d/b/a Five Star Carting

In a 2020 National Labor Relations Board legal action, the ownership of Five Star was stated  to reflect the new ownership:

GPB Waste d/b/a Five Star Carting, and Cogent Waste Solutions LLC, individually and as a successor of GPB Waste

Robert Shirlaw Jr. is shown as the Sales Manager for Cogent Waste Solutions LLC. Corporate Wiki links Shirlaw to these associates and to Big Apple Sanitation Inc., a waste management firm in Brooklyn:

GPB Capital still owns these waste management companies and has not exited this business sector:

Scroll down to read the PDF of the Verified Consolidated Complaint in the case captioned Younker et al v. GPB Capital Holdings et al. (New York Supreme Court INDEX NO. 157679/2019)

Dated October 30, 2020, the complaint contains a comprehensive chronology and a wealth of details. Of note in a related filing is this item:

NOTICE OF MOTION FOR A DEFAULT ORDER UNDER CPLR 3215(d)
AGAINST DEFENDANT MACRINA KGIL

Former GPB Capital CFO Macrina Kgil has not answered the complaint; she appears to have elected to default.

*****

New York State Corporate Filing for Cogent Waste Solutions LLC: