Benson declined to answer on the advice of his lawyer. Krogue also asked Benson whether transactions from LRS to Stag Consulting and Stoneworth Consulting amounted to “insider” payments, contrary to what’s indicated on bankruptcy filings. “He tried to mask his control over that organization,” Krogue said in an interview. After further questioning by Krogue, Benson admitted he was also “an officer” and CEO of the nonprofit. In the bankruptcy filings, Benson listed LRS’s relationship to Big Game Forever as “nonprofit.”Īsked why he used that description during the hearing, Benson claimed he was “just one of four board members” for the Big Game Forever Foundation. The Legislature has given that group a combined $5.1 million since 2012.īenson noted LRS had transferred some intellectual property to Big Game Forever in March as well but did not go into detail. The Utah Legislature paid Stag $7 million between 20 to lobby against a federal endangered species listing for sage grouse.Īt Wednesday’s bankruptcy hearing, Benson called Stag Consulting his “law firm.”Įarlier this year, LRS also transferred $80,000 in capital and forgave $250,000 worth of debt to Big Game Forever, a nonprofit Benson founded to lobby against federal protections for wolves, bankruptcy documents show. Its registered business address is the same as Benson’s home address. Stag Consulting, Benson’s company, does not have a website. “They’d do about anything to avoid that outcome.” “I think they really, really don’t want to have to pay Ben anything,” said Krogue, whose own firm is owed $175,000 by LRS. But Benson claims the company only has $2,000 left in the bank. It owes its own attorneys in the case, with Foley and Lardner, $328,000.
LRS’s bankruptcy filings note it could owe Abbott $390,000 for his time and expenses lost during the lawsuit. The professor had met with policymakers and kept a blog disputing LRS’s unproven claims that transforming Utah Lake into a city of around half a million people would fix its algal blooms, habitat issues and damaged wetlands.
The company unsuccessfully tried to sue Abbott for defamation last year. “I was surprised he admitted that, because it does show the are incorrect,” said Whitney Krogue, an attorney for LRS’s largest creditor, Brigham Young University assistant professor Ben Abbott.
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