The following are statements from Stephen Hilbert and his wife Tomisue Hilbert concerning the Supreme Court's refusal to hear his appeal. Folloing that is a statement from Conseco.
From: Phillip J. Fowler, attorney for Steve Hilbert:
Mr. Hilbert's comments on the status of the Conseco litigation:
I am obviously extremely disappointed that issues I felt strongly about were never presented to a jury. But, I want to thank Judge Proffitt for giving me the opportunity to complete my appeal process through her stay order. I am also grateful that the court in my related case against Conseco that is currently pending in Chicago has recognized my right to a trial, and I look forward to a full presentation of the evidence in that case.
It has been over six years since I left Conseco. One can only hope that those in management at Conseco can now turn their attention to revitalizing what, not long ago, was once a great company.
My family and I moved out of our home on 116th Street January of 2005, and relied on Conseco to responsibly maintain and market the home. Since January 2005, my family believes Conseco has done everything possible to destroy the value of this magnificent home, which Conseco's own appraiser appraised for $25 million just a few years ago.
I co-founded Conseco with $10,000 in 1979, spent 21 years building the Company into a Fortune 500 Member that Hoosiers could be proud of and created over 4,000 jobs in Indiana. Conseco was one of Indiana's leading companies and was also a major contributor to this community.
I left Conseco in April 2000 and remained one of its largest individual shareholders. Tragically, almost three years after my departure and a series of blunders by new management, including the firing of over 1,000 Indiana residents and moving their jobs to a company in India that failed, the new management team unexpectedly placed Conseco in bankruptcy. The bankruptcy wiped out approximately 100,000 shareholders and the primary beneficiaries were Conseco's lawyers at Kirkland & Ellis (one of whom became the CEO), and management, who ended up with a large ownership in the new company.
During the six years I have been gone, Conseco has had six CEOs who have received approximately $200 million in compensation simply for coming in and, in most cases, being fired.
Unfortunately for Indiana, Conseco is no longer domiciled in the State of Indiana. It is now managed by a non-Indiana management team and Board of Directors that are not living in or committed to Indiana.
My wife, Tomisue, and I continue to work toward the goal of creating jobs and opportunities for Hoosiers. We love this State and we are proud to live here.
Tomisue Hilbert statement
From: Linda L. Pence, Sommer Barnard PC, attorney for Tomisue Hilbert
Date: October 2, 2006
Tomisue Hilbert's attorney, Linda Pence, Sommer Barnard PC, stated:
Tomisue Hilbert does not owe Conseco a dime. She is not a debtor of Conseco. She was never a borrower or participant in any Conseco D & O loan program operated by the now defunct Conseco. She is not a debtor of the newly formed Conseco corporation that emerged from bankruptcy. Conseco has no direct claim against Mrs. Hilbert. The sole reason that Mrs. Hilbert is a defendant in this lawsuit is because New Conseco has wrongfully alleged that she was the recipient of fraudulent transfers from her husband. Inherent in Conseco's claims against Mrs. Hilbert is that a wife brings no value to the marriage and is not entitled to any property of the marital estate. This is, of course, not true and contrary to law and the society we live in today.
Frustrated by its lack of claims against Mrs. Hilbert, Conseco has taken every opportunity to embarrass, humiliate and harass Mrs. Hilbert and devalue her investments and property rights. They have even employed private investigators to follow Mrs. Hilbert and her children and have contacted friends and neighbors asking questions which wrongly implicate her in fraudulent activity. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Mrs. Hilbert vigorously disputes any allegation that she has any liability to Conseco related to the Conseco D&O Loan Program or as a result of transfers of property between her and her husband. All transfers of property from Mr. Hilbert to Mrs. Hilbert were either made at a time when Mr. Hilbert was solvent, were made in exchange for property to Mr. Hilbert that had equal value, or were exchanges made at the behest of Conseco itself so it could obtain a first mortgage on the Hilbert's residence. For the past several weeks, we have been preparing Motions for Summary Judgment on behalf of Mrs. Hilbert which will be filed today, October 2, 2006. We are confident these motions will fundamentally change the face of this litigation. We look forward to a favorable resolution of Conseco's baseless allegations against Mrs. Hilbert upon presentation of the facts and law to the Hamilton Circuit Court.
Conseco statement:
Conseco is pleased with the US Supreme Court's refusal to hear Stephen Hilbert's appeal. This was anticipated. Conseco intends to vigorously pursue collection of the full amount due on the Indiana judgment, which now exceeds $85 million. Within the next 24 hours, we expect to file numerous documents with Judge Proffitt to garnish, sell and collect on Mr. Hilbert's assets. Conseco also continues its pursuit of a judgment for an additional approximately $200 million against Mr. Hilbert in Illinois.
