San Diego

The trustee in charge of bankrupt J. David & Co. filed lawsuits Friday against 65 former investors in the scandal-ridden La Jolla firm, seeking repayment of nearly $9 million in so-called preference payments and about $4 million in “fraudulent conveyances.”

The lawsuits, filed in federal court, mark the “second wave” of trustee Louis Metzger’s effort to recoup some of funds that seeped from J. David & Co. in the 90 days before the firm’s collapse on Feb. 13, 1984.

Funds paid by a collapsed company during that time are referred to as “preference payments” in bankruptcy parlance. Investors who withdrew more money than they invested in J. David received what Metzger describes as “fraudulent conveyances.”

Metzger last year filed 150 lawsuits against former J. David investors demanding the return of about $25 million in preference payments.

The lawsuits and a subsequent settlement offer by Metzger yielded only $3.1 million, however.