Laguna Niguel restaurant king John Gantes has no assets with which to pay creditors, the bankruptcy trustee has concluded.

Gantes' Burger King in Santa Ana

The trustee, Jack Wolfe, filed his report in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Santa Ana on Monday.  It means that most of Gantes’ creditors probably will never collect a dime.

Gantes listed $345 million in debts and just $2.7 million in assets when he filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition in December. Most of the debts consist of personal guarantees he signed to get loans for his restaurants.

At his peak in mid-2008 Gantes owned a hotel and 110 franchised restaurants stretching from Las Vegas to Washington State, including more than a dozen Burger Kings, Arby’s and Coco’s in Orange County. He closed several restaurants but is trying to reorganize most of them through more than two dozen Chapter 11 cases. Those cases are legally separate from Gantes’ personal bankruptcy.

Seven creditors have sued Gantes in bankruptcy court seeking nearly $12.5 million. One of those creditors, San Diego Private Bank, is objecting to the entire bankruptcy. Until its objection is resolved, Gantes’ attorney William Burd said, the court won’t discharge Gantes’ debts.

Here are our previous stories on Gantes:

• Bankruptcy on the menu
• Empire of debt: Where did restaurant king’s millions go?

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Posted in: Bankruptcy • Legal problems • O.C. business news • Top tale • Bankruptcy • Gantes • Restaurants |

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