Hecker trustee gets green light to seek hidden assets

The bankruptcy trustee handling the Denny Hecker case got permission Wednesday to subpoena friends, an attorney and an ex-wife of the jailed auto mogul in the hopes of finding more hidden assets.

Trustee Randy Seaver argued in a court filing last month that the depositions may help reveal financial information that would assist the bankruptcy estate. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Kressel approved Seaver's requests Wednesday.

"Now we can serve the subpoenas," said Seaver's attorney Matthew Burton.

In the coming weeks, Seaver will question Hecker's bankruptcy attorney John Neve and ex-wife Sandra Hecker about money Hecker used to pay his attorney fees.

Seaver will also depose Hecker's friends George Johnson and Molly Jensen. Seaver said they may have helped Hecker and his wife, Christi Rowan Hecker, in "business or financial matters."

Seaver also wants testimony from Johnson's wife, Barbara Tourville, because she allegedly "placed funds in the prison account of Hecker and may have knowledge of his assets and financial affairs."

Seaver will also subpoena Commercial Partners Title.

Hecker, who once owned 26 auto dealerships, a rental chain and lease/fleet outfits worth an estimated $8.6 billion, filed for bankruptcy in June 2009 claiming $767 million in debt and $18.5 million in assets. He was jailed in October, 2010 and is serving a 10-year prison sentence in Duluth for bankruptcy fraud and conspiring to defraud auto lenders out of millions of dollars in loans.

So far trustee Seaver has secured roughly $7 million for creditors.