Beso Investor Wants to Put Longoria Under Spotlight

Eva Longoria is used to the spotlight, but the latest request for the actress’s appearance doesn’t involve the red carpet.

Instead, the “Desperate Housewives” star is being asked to show up for questioning at a court-reporting firm in Las Vegas, where her Beso restaurant is currently under Chapter 11 protection.

Attorneys for Mali Nachum, a disgruntled business partner of Longoria, last week filed a motion asking a Las Vegas bankruptcy judge to order the actress to submit to an examination about the “acts, conduct or property” of restaurant owner Beso LLC. Other subjects of the examination, proposed for Aug. 30, include Beso’s liabilities and financial condition as well as “any matter” that could affect its bankruptcy estate.

Nachum made her request under Rule 2004 of the Bankruptcy Code, which allows pretty much any interested party to probe the financial health and other circumstances of a company under Chapter 11 protection.

Nachum, who invested in Beso along with Longoria and others, previously sued Longoria in a California state court for usury. Beso’s Chapter 11 filing in January, however, automatically halted that litigation. Nachum then sued Beso in bankruptcy court, claiming other investors sought capital from her and her husband, Ronen Nachum, with the intention of ousting them from Beso once the company got the funds it needed. Beso has since fought the complaint, which the bankruptcy judge will hold a conference on next month.

The Nachums are now seeking a Chapter 11 trustee to take control of Beso, whose fate they say they’re concerned about with the recent closure of its Eve nightclub. Beso officials decided to temporarily shutter the once-hot club to reboot its image, which Beso’s bankruptcy attorney told Vegas Inc. may have become “a little too passé.”

source: blog.wsj.com