As Greensboro staffing executive Greg Harrison awaits sentencing for a multi-count conviction for obstructing the Internal Revenue Service and failing to pay over payroll taxes, a creditor is seeking control over Harrison’s staffing licensing company and several licensees operated by associates.
A lawyer for the defendants, including Harrison, licensor Global Labor and the licensee companies, warned in a response memorandum filed in NC Business Court earlier this month that the appointment of a receiver could result “in a breakdown in the business relationship between the licensee companies and Global.”
BHC Interim Funding II LP contends in a complaint that Harrison assumed responsibility for a debt of $7.5 million when he acquired the assets of a group of staffing companies in 2008, and then incorporated a new company structured through a licensing arrangement and transferred the assets to defraud the creditor. Harrison, Global Labor and the various licensee companies have denied the charges.
William Ray, the secretary and director of Global Labor, said in an affidavit: “If the receiver is given authority to control the business of Global Labor, I will view that development as inimical to my current role as day-to-day manager of the business operations of Global Labor, including its relationship with its licensees, and I will consider a resignation from all management and directorial functions with the company appropriate and in the best financial interest of the company.”
The licensee companies include Integrated Hiring and Temporary Personnel Solutions, both owned by Mark Gleason, a longtime friend and business associate of Harrison’s. Integrated Hiring serves markets in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Richmond, Va., while Temporary Personnel Solutions does business in northern Florida. Other companies with licensing agreements with Global Labor, include Integrated Staffing Solutions, a company owned by Lou Ann Shaw in Gastonia; Hire Alternatives, owned by Peter G. Pappas in Marietta, Ga.; and Strategic Insource Solutions, owned by Trevor Jefferson in Greensboro.
Pappas said in an affidavit that Harrison had no involvement in marketing Hire Alternatives or obtaining its clients. That response was echoed by Gleason and Shaw. The three said Global Labor “in no way controls” their respective companies “or has any authority to make or affect decisions about the management and operations” of the companies.
Gleason warns in an affidavit that if a receiver is granted control of Global Labor and “seeks to inject himself into the business” of Innovative Hiring and Temporary Personnel Solutions, “I will view that as a material breach and default of the license agreements and take appropriate actions.”
Gleason, Shaw, Pappas and Jefferson acknowledged that their companies serve some of the same clients that were served by Compensation Management, the staffing conglomerate saddled with debt to BHC, but said they also cultivated new clients. The four warned that if a receiver is granted control of Global Labor and “seeks to inject himself into the business” of their companies, they “will view that as a breach and default of the license agreement and take appropriate actions.”
The motion to appoint a receiver is scheduled to be heard by Judge James M. Gale in NC Business Court in Greensboro on Feb. 21.
Meanwhile, Harrison’s criminal case has taken a strange, new twist with his public defender’s request to withdraw as counsel because of an unspecified conflict of interest.
3 comments:
Mr.Green: Thanks for keeping us informed on the Harrison case. I know that there are many people following this. Some are friends, some were customers. I fall into both categories.
You're welcome, Mr. Jones. I attended the hearing on BHC's motion for receivership today. I plan to write about this for the next issue of YES! Weekly, but in short the judge said he is leaning towards ordering an injunction to prevent the transfer of assets rather than to appoint a receiver. But first he suggested that the three parties enter mediation with a neutral mediator. The parties agreed to give it a shot.
I would love to talk to you about the various intrigues swirling around Mr. Harrison. Would you mind contacting me offline at jordan@yesweekly.com?
Will do.
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