Apparel
Conan Hayes, a cofounder of Costa Mesa-based apparel company RVCA, was charged with grand theft in a case involving the financing of a house in Costa Mesa. The Orange County District Attorney’s office accused Hayes of lying to Bank of America, causing it to lose nearly $600,000 in a home short sale. It charged him with one felony count of grand theft. Hayes posted bail in the amount the bank said it lost in the transaction. Prosecutors say he sold his interest in RVCA in 2010 when Billabong USA acquired the company. He pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Automotive
Toyota Motor Corp. selected Orange County dealerships Toyota of Orange and Tustin Toyota to be among the first eight in the U.S. selling its new Mirai hydrogen vehicle. Mirai, which means “future” in Japanese, can travel up to 300 miles on a single tank of hydrogen and refuel in five minutes, the company said. It emits only water vapor. Toyota expects to sell about 3,000 of the four-door sedans through 2017. They’ll be available for purchase at $57,500.
Education
Santa Ana-based Corinthian Colleges Inc. filed for bankruptcy. The for-profit schools operator had been winding down operations since last June, selling or closing campuses, as part of an agreement with the U.S. Department of Education.
Finance
Costa Mesa-based debt settlement services company Morgan Drexen Inc., which provides administrative support to attorneys, filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Central District of California in Santa Ana. The filing indicated the company had $1 million to $10 million in assets and 1,000 and 5,000 creditors. It said Morgan Drexen “estimates that funds will be available for distribution to unsecured creditors.”
Three Orange County-based ambulance companies agreed to settle with the U.S. Department of Justice in a case involving kickback allegations, the U.S. attorney’s office for California’s Southern District said. Pacific Ambulance Inc. and Bowers Companies Inc., which were acquired by Rural/Metro Corp. after the alleged kickbacks occurred, and Care Ambulance Service Inc., plus two San Diego-based companies, entered into settlements requiring them to collectively pay more than $11.5 million to resolve the allegations. The attorney’s office accused the defendants of providing deeply discounted services to hospitals and/or skilled nursing facilities in exchange for exclusive rights to more lucrative Medicare referrals. It said such arrangements can result in overuse of services and inflated Medicare charges and that the kickback arrangements led to false claims for Medicare ambulance transports that subsidized the discounted trips.
Media
Chicago-based Tribune Publishing Co., parent of the Los Angeles Times, said it entered into an agreement to buy U-T San Diego for $85 million. The deal calls for $73 million in cash, $12 million in Tribune Publishing stock, and the assumption of U-T San Diego’s pension liabilities by the new owner. The Times also would get nine community weeklies but no real estate assets. San Diego real estate developer Doug Manchester reportedly paid $110 million four years ago for what was then called the San Diego Union-Tribune. The sale to Tribune is expected to close in a month.
Real Estate
Four OC homebuilders are gearing up for the development of Esencia, the second village planned at the ranch community of Rancho Mission Viejo. Standard Pacific Corp. and TRI Pointe Homes, both in Irvine, and Newport Beach-based William Lyon Homes and Costa Mesa-based Warmington Residential are in the early stages of construction work at the 890-acre project, which will open for sales this fall. There are a total of seven homebuilders on the project, whose development is being overseen by Rancho Mission Viejo LLC, Orange County’s second-largest landowner.
Services
Universal Protection Service in Santa Ana bought three companies that make up Northwest Protective Service. The five offices picked up in the acquisition are in Washington state and Portland, Ore. It said the group serves office, retail, marine port and mixed-use properties and employs about 500.
