Over $4M in real estate tied to ATM businessman Daryl Heller could get swept up in bankruptcy

• By Brett Sholtis/LNP | LancasterOnline

A luxury A-frame lodge, a dozen mobile homes, hundreds of acres of farmland and an active gas drilling well pad are among the properties owned by businesses that Lancaster County entrepreneur Daryl Heller claimed as part of his personal wealth less than two years ago.

But now, as 2,700 investors seek their share of a $140 million judgment against Heller’s collapsed ATM network and Heller fends off lawsuits from banks and lenders, his lawyer says Heller does not have ownership stakes in those businesses.

Most of the properties are owned by business entities that Heller originally registered, state records show. However, legal experts say it is difficult to know who owns the businesses now. Without a court order forcing release of internal business records, it’s not possible to know whether Heller signed away any stake in the companies before he got into legal trouble — or whether he transferred his shares to family members as his creditors approached, a step that could be a violation of bankruptcy law.

The real estate, located in Pennsylvania, New York and Kansas, is valued at more than $4 million, according to estimates in county records — and could be swept up in an increasingly unusual bankruptcy.

“You’re already in rare territory,” said Temple Law Professor Jonathan Lipson. Chapter 11 bankruptcy usually is used to reorganize a business, not someone’s personal finances.

Another uncommon move, Lipson said, is that the judge overseeing the case appointed an examiner to scour Heller’s business records and write reports.

The question now, he said, is whether the judge will appoint a “trustee” to recover as much money as possible for creditors. Investors’ attorneys filed a motion to appoint a trustee, but there is no hearing scheduled.

“There are a variety of legal doctrines that can be used by someone like a trustee, who could say, ‘It’s true that there are 150 separate entities, but it’s also true that he didn’t treat them separately, and therefore, we should ignore their separateness,’ ” Lipson said. “It’s all one big pot.’”

Heller’s personal financial statement

Heller’s 2023 personal financial statement, dated Dec. 31, 2023, shows he estimated that his worth stood at more than $310 million. A personal financial statement is a type of document that lists assets and debts and that may be used to apply for loans.

Most of that wealth — $238 million — came from 34 operating entities under the Heller Capital Group LLC umbrella, including the $55 million Paramount Management Group, which oversaw the now-defunct ATM investment network. Four more entities under Heller Investment Holdings LLC added another $57 million, according to the document.

Another set of holdings was worth $14.4 million, Heller estimated on the document. Those 25 operating entities were listed under the category “Accordo / Brigantine (real estate / other assets).”

This section included Brookfield Properties, DHQM and DHQM2 among Heller’s assets.

But Heller’s attorney, Sari Placona, contacted last Wednesday, said Heller owned 1% or less of these companies. She said he transferred his share of Accordo to family members in early 2024. Heller’s ATM business first failed to pay investors in April 2024.

“Moreover, I believe the 2023 financial statement reflects the TOTAL value of entities of which [Heller] only had a PARTIAL ownership in most,” Placona said in an email.

At least 31 properties are owned by entities tied to Heller, public records show.

Most of these properties are located along the northern tier of Tioga County, Pennsylvania, and the southern edge of Steuben County, New York, a region dotted with small towns, homesteads and cornfields surrounded by wooded hills.

Brookfield Properties

In February 1996, Heller, his brother Daniel, brother-in-law Nevin Brenneman and Haller Enterprises businessman J. Richard Haller all signed a document to register Brookfield Properties in Pennsylvania as a fictitious name, state records show. The men are all originally from Lancaster County. The purpose of the new business was “real estate investment and other forms of legal investments.”

Haller did not respond to a request for comment. Daniel Heller said he hasn’t been an owner of Brookfield Properties “in many years.” Brenneman said he was “a previous part owner of Brookfield property up until 2016, when Daryl had bought me completely out, and he remains sole owner of the property now.”

In 2023, Heller listed “Brookfield Partners” on his personal financial statement. He estimated that the “Brookfield Partners” properties, including 180 acres of land and a lodge, had a value of $1.85 million.

Tioga County records show Brookfield Properties owns 1433 North Road, which contains a large A-frame, metal-roofed house and a separate garage. A sign at the edge of the property reads “Brookfield Lodge.” The property, with an appraised value of $442,460, is on 65 acres of land, county records state. Brookfield Properties land surrounds a four-acre parcel on the Pa.-NY border owned by Heller.

Across the road, a sign showed the entrance to “Brookfield Well Pad.” The 113-acre lot is owned by Brookfield Properties, county records show. Drilling began on the site, which is operated by VEC Energy, on Aug. 7, 2008, and the wellpad is listed as active in a state database. A Google Maps image of the property shows an access road, cleared out area and structures, including two circular tanks. The land is appraised at $225,970.

Placona, Heller’s attorney, said he owns neither Brookfield Properties nor Brookfield Lodge.

“Brookfield entities have had various extended family owners over the years” including Heller, but he is no longer an owner, Placona said. “Brookfield is a hunting cabin built close to 25 years ago.”

DHQM and DHQM2

In 2013, Heller signed organizing documents for DHQM Properties LLC, along with Quentin Miller of East Hempfield Township. Miller did not respond to requests for comment.

Heller claimed $1.4 million in DHQM assets on his 2023 personal financial statement. In addition, he claimed $450,000 in a similarly-named entity, DHQM2.

DHQM2 owns about a dozen mobile homes in Knoxville, a small town in Tioga County, county records show. The properties, in the Valley View Estates mobile home park, have a combined appraised value of $473,000.

DHQM properties include 1984 North Road, a 118-acre property appraised at $221,330, per county records.

Across the border in Troupsburg, New York, DHQM owns seven more properties with a combined full market value of $1 million, Steuben County records show.

Placona, Heller’s attorney, said her client “does not own DHQM or DHQM2. In fact, Mr Heller only ever owned .5% (1/2 of 1 percent) of DHQM, and that was transferred to Accordo in 2014. Regarding DHQM2, he never owned any of DHQM2.”

In July 2024, the month before ATM investors filed suit seeking control of Paramount and claiming they were owed $65 million, Heller requested that his Heller Capital Group CFO send DHQM $15,000, a court exhibit in his bankruptcy case shows. He also requested $25,000 be sent to QDM Properties LLC, an entity registered to Miller and his wife Lydia.

In bankruptcy court Thursday, Heller’s attorneys asked the judge to allow DHQM to transfer ownership of six of its Pennsylvania and New York properties. If allowed, three of the parcels would go to QDM Family Partnership. Three would go to Accordo, which they say is owned by Heller’s son, Ethan.

Accordo Limited Partnership

A company Heller formed in December 2013, called Accordo Limited Partnership, owns 380 acres of land in Troupsburg, New York. The seven parcels on State Road 36, Plank Road and Potter Road have a combined full market value of $937,510, Steuben County records show.

Accordo owns half of Heller’s former offices at 415 N. Prince St., Lancaster. Attorneys for Heller’s wife Charlene and adult children, Ethan and Taite, have asked the bankruptcy judge to approve the sale, which would net Accordo about $500,000. The family also asked to sell an Accordo property — a cabin and 64 acres of land — in Elk City, Kansas, for $363,000, bankruptcy court documents show.

Accordo owns a total 943 acres of land in Elk City and Longton appraised at $143,000, Chautauqua County records show.

In a pair of objections filed Tuesday in federal bankruptcy count in New Jersey related to Heller’s Chapter 11 filings, attorneys for creditor Deerfield Capital LLC ask that proceeds of any sale of the Accordo properties in Kansas and on North Prince Street be restricted. The filings say that while there is no objection to a sale, there is an objection to any distribution of proceeds to any “reputed owners” and notes that Deerfield “has filed a separate adversary action against Accordo and other parties with regard to alleged fraudulent transfers that involve” Heller.

Heller claimed Accordo among his assets on his 2023 personal financial statement. However, Heller’s attorney, Placona, said Heller only ever owned 1% of Accordo, and that he signed away that stake “in early 2024.”

In October 2024 — months after Heller would have signed over his remaining share in Accordo — Heller signed as general partner of Accordo for an oil and gas lease on an Accordo property, Tioga County records show.

Placona said this was just a mistake.

“That was already corrected and simply a situation whereas his admin stopped by his house to get a bunch of documents signed for many different entities, which were given to her by others for Mr. Heller to sign,” Placona said. “He quickly signed all documents not realizing one of the documents reflected him signing for Accordo which he no longer was a 1% owner.”

If a trustee is appointed

Lipson, the Temple law professor, said that if Judge Jerrold N. Poslusny, Jr. appoints a trustee, it would signal a new phase of the bankruptcy.

“It would be not good for Heller,” Lipson said. “Not only would you have an investigation that would build on the examiner’s investigation, but [the trustee] could actually go after him.”

Lipson said a trustee may be on the lookout for “fraudulent transfer,” a way to avoid paying creditors, which can have serious repercussions.

Another legal concept, known as “veil piercing,” would allow a trustee to reject the idea that Heller’s dozens of corporations are truly separate and therefore deserve to remain untouched by his bankruptcy, Lipson said. In bankruptcy, a related concept is called “substantive consolidation,” in which different legal entities are treated as one.

“That’s a very attractive thing to do in cases where this has happened,” Lipson said. “So they will look long and hard at the bank records for all these entities, and look to find the way to recover as many of these assets as possible.”

This reporter’s work is funded by the Lancaster County Local Journalism Fund. For more information, or to make a contribution, please visit lanc.news/supportlocaljournalism.

How we reported this

With legal experts telling us that embattled businessman Daryl Heller’s bankruptcy is unusual in many regards, we decided to look more closely at his business entities and assets. Much of this came out of our curiosity about the 165 business entities tied to Heller, as shown in court documents.

We used the Pennsylvania Department of State corporation search tool to see if Heller had registered these entities. Many of them listed Heller as a general partner and listed his 415 N. Prince St., Lancaster, address as the main point of contact.

However — after we asked Heller’s attorney about the properties — the information for some of these business entities was updated. Now, several entities list Heller’s son Ethan as an officer and list an address at the Staples office supply store in Manheim Township.

Registration documents containing Heller’s name and signature, which we paid to obtain from the Pennsylvania Department of State, provided another key data source. We reviewed such documents for Accordo, Brookfield Properties and DHQM.

Another key data source is an unredacted copy of Heller’s Dec. 31, 2023, personal financial statement, provided to us by attorneys for the investor funds. This document listed many of the business entities that are of interest in this story: Accordo, Brookfield, DHQM and DHQM2. Another version of this statement provided in court documents, as shown here, redacts the values of some business entities. 

We relied significantly on real estate records from Tioga County, Pennsylvania and Steuben County, New York. These told what properties the business entities owned and gave estimates of their worth.

Finally, for this story, I visited properties in Pennsylvania and New York earlier this month and reviewed files in the Steuben County Clerk’s Office.

—Brett Sholtis