[CPProt.net] antiquities dealer Bruce Ferrini files bankruptcy

[MSN CPPnet (Ton Cremers)]

Posted on Tue, Sep. 20, 2005 
 
Artifacts dealer files bankruptcy

Bath Twp. man owes creditors over $1 million

By Beth Rankin

Beacon Journal staff writer


Bath Township antiquities dealer Bruce Ferrini, who exhibited a private
collection of Dead Sea Scroll fragments in Akron in spring 2004, has filed
for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Ferrini made the electronic filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the
Northern District of Ohio in Akron on Sept. 15.

Ferrini could not be reached for comment.

According to court records, Ferrini owes between $1,000,001 and $10 million
to more than 80 creditors.

Those creditors include credit-card companies, banks, the state and Medina
resident Evelyn DiBello, who was the publicity chairperson for the exhibit.

The exhibit, put together a year ago by Ferrini, California antiquities
expert Lee Biondi and Tennessee doctor William Noah, ended up a protracted
legal squabble over unpaid bills and the distribution of any profits.

And last fall, two Evansville, Ind., residents sued Ferrini, saying he kept
artifacts they gave him to sell.

According to the suit, Raymond and Nancy Hagensieker gave Ferrini a book
with notes written in it by Leonardo da Vinci, an English-Spanish folio
manuscript and a letter signed by George Washington.

The Hagensiekers said neither the items nor compensation from their sale was
ever given to them.