Creditors’ Group Seeks Liquidation of Mazur Company

A group of creditors that includes well-known real estate expert Stephen E. Roulac is petitioning the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles to liquidate American Resource Corp., a Century City firm that Roulac once touted as one of the nation’s rising stars in real estate.

American Resource is headed by Sherman Mazur, 40, a Holmby Hills resident who is prominent in Los Angeles social and charity circles. Mazur built his reputation as a so-called real estate workout specialist who takes control of financially troubled offices and apartments, trims property management costs and whips the properties into shape financially for investors.

Court records show that since 1982, Mazur has been named in at least 50 lawsuits in California and Texas by investors in real estate partnerships, many of whom allege in the suits that he skimmed money from the partnerships before putting them into bankruptcy proceedings.

As previously reported, Mazur and his companies have also been the subject of lengthy investigations by state and federal authorities for possible violations of securities laws and bankruptcy fraud.

Mazur denies defrauding anyone. His lawyer, H. Roy Jeppson, said the petition to liquidate American Resource does not mean that Mazur’s operations are in financial trouble.

“His businesses are very healthy and in no danger of going into bankruptcy as far as I know. He has many corporations. This is something I don’t view as a major problem,” Jeppson said.

The five creditors who filed the petition hold court judgments totaling nearly $265,000 against American Resource. The amount includes $28,750 owed to the Stephen Roulac & Co. consulting business in San Francisco, nearly $25,000 owed to an Oakland printing and legal services company and more than $210,000 owed to three people in San Mateo, Calif., who worked for a company Mazur took control of and sued for back wages and commissions.

Roulac, an occasional Forbes magazine columnist and one of the nation’s best-known real estate consultants, just three years ago was one of Mazur’s biggest boosters. In July, 1986, Roulac predicted in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that Mazur’s company would accumulate one of the largest real estate portfolios in the nation within two years.

But Roulac had a falling out with Mazur and later sued him, claiming that he was not paid for various consulting services.