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McNall Home Sold for $4.74 Million : Bankruptcy: Revlon chairman outbids Harvard-Westlake School. Three McNall businesses file Chapter 11.

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

The dismantling of Bruce McNall’s empire continued on Tuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court when billionaire Ronald O. Perelman outbid Harvard-Westlake School for the Holmby Hills estate once owned by the former King president and majority owner.

Perelman, the chairman of Revlon, did not appear and was not named in court papers as the buyer of the five-bedroom, 10,000-square-foot house, which was sold for $4,738,750. The purchaser was listed as 924 Bel Aire Corp., but public records show Perelman is president of the corporation.

Harvard-Westlake, which is adjacent to the Holmby Hills property, had made an offer of $4.55 million. McNall, who filed for bankruptcy a little more than a year ago, bought the home for about $7 million in 1982 and it was first listed on the market in September for $5.59 million.

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McNall pleaded guilty in federal court to two counts of bank fraud, one count of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy in December. Sentencing, which had been scheduled for July, has been delayed until January, Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter S. Spivack said.

In another bankruptcy development, three more McNall businesses filed Chapter 11 petitions earlier this month--Los Angeles Kings Ltd., Kings Hockey Inc. and McNall Sports and Entertainment.

Los Angeles Kings Ltd., once the sole owner of the Kings, still holds a 28% stake in the team. McNall’s 28% is controlled by bankruptcy trustee R. Todd Neilson.

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The timing of the filings requested by Neilson, less than a year after the 72% purchase of the team by Jeffrey Sudikoff and Joseph Cohen, was not coincidental.

McNall bankruptcy attorney Richard L. Wynne was asked Tuesday whether the timing was to allow for the setting aside of last year’s sale.

“There’s a Latin saying called the thing speaks for itself,” Wynne said. “ Res Ipsa Loquitor.

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“The trustee is looking at the sale transaction to determine if any actions are necessary and appropriate in the bankruptcy case.”

Leonard Gumport, a lawyer for the trustee, confirmed that such a probe is taking place.

“That area is one of the subjects the trustee is investigating,” Gumport said. “The trustee has not made any conclusions. And he has investigated the subject matter from the beginning of this case. Everyone was aware that this was something the trustee was likely to investigate.

“The filing of the bankruptcy case permits the trustee to investigate and possibly set aside certain transactions that happened in the one-year period prior to the bankruptcy.”

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