SALVATORE Takoushian, chief executive of embattled Eagle Hospitality Trust (EHT), is looking to contest four criminal charges under the Securities and Futures Act, and intends to plead “not guilty” to the charges.
Appearing in the state court on Friday (May 17), the 43-year-old American told the judge he intends to engage a lawyer.
Takoushian was the chief executive of EHT, a stapled trust comprising Eagle Hospitality Real Estate Investment Trust (EH-Reit) and Eagle Hospitality Business Trust (EH-BT). The trust listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) in May 2019, tanked upon its debut and was suspended in March 2020.
The case marked one of the fastest collapses of a Singapore-listed company, and was one of the key cases that rocked investor confidence in the market. Investigations over the course of liquidation proceedings also unravelled several lapses in governance, leadership and financial difficulties that were not disclosed to investors during the time the trust was listed.
A number of EHT’s units filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection in the US in January 2021 and later filed a plan for liquidation. Bank lenders were slated then to mop up a bulk of the proceeds, while stapled securityholders were left empty handed.
Charge sheets for Friday’s hearing in court seen by The Business Times termed Takoushian as a “responsible person” for EH-Reit and Eagle Hospitality Business Trust Management – which was the manager of EH-BT.
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The charge sheets said Takoushian on Jun 7, 2019, as the chief executive and executive director of the trust, consented to the “reckless nature” of the trust’s managers to notify the exchange of information that is required to be disclosed by the exchange under its listing rules.
Such information included the fact that the master lessees under the master lease agreements for the properties in EHT’s portfolio had failed to provide standby letters of credit amounting to US$20 million by Jun 7, 2019.
This amount was the balance of security deposits amounting to US$43.65 million owed to EH-Reit. The failure to provide the security deposits resulted in defaults under the master lease agreements, charge sheets said.
The defaults under the master lease agreements thereby resulted in defaults under the US$341 million facilities agreement dated May 16, 2019.
The agreement was between DBS Trustee in its capacity as trustee of EH-Reit, Eagle Hospitality Business Trust Management and a syndicate of other lenders, among other parties.
The other charges were levelled against Takoushian pertaining to EH-Reit Management’s submission of a notice to the master lessees to notify them of their failure to provide the security deposits that were required under the master lease agreements, and EH-Reit’s Management’s agreement to the master lessees’ request for a 60-day extension of the 180-day cure period to provide the security deposits. This period would have otherwise expired on Dec 21, 2019.
On Feb 14, 2020, EH-Reit Management had again agreed to the master lessees’ request for a further extension to Jun 8, 2020, to provide the security deposits.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore said this information was necessary for the trust to disclose to avoid the establishment of a false market in EHT’s securities, and was required to be disclosed under a portion of the SGX mainboard’s listing rules.
In failing to do so, Takoushian committed offences under certain sections of the Securities and Futures Act.
He is out on a bail of S$40,000. His pre-trial conference will be held on Jun 14.
