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Michael Lynch, who closed Reynolds plant, behind bars in Illinois
Tuesday, October 17, 2006 7:39 AM PDT
By Evan Caldwell
Printable version
E-mail this articleArguably one of the most hated men to ever set foot in Cowlitz County is behind bars in Cook County, Ill., for criminal contempt.
Cook County Judge Paddy McNamara sent Michael Lynch to jail Friday after a two-hour hearing in which he repeatedly accused other judges of getting mob money and then produced what he said were some of McNamara's own financial records, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Sunday. She sentenced him to 60 days in Cook County Jail for criminal contempt.
The Chicago businessman bought Longview's Reynolds Aluminum plant in 2001, a 63-year-old factory that employed 950 workers and had an annual payroll of $25 million. Lynch immediately closed the plant, making millions on a deal with the Bonneville Power Administration to sell back the electricity the smelter would have used. Then, he backed out on promises to reopen the plant within a year and laid off all the employees.
Workers later learned Lynch underfunded their pensions by $2.6 million while he managed the smelter. And Longview's economy hurtled into a tailspin from which it is just now recovering.
Meanwhile, in Chicago, Lynch has been fighting bankruptcy for about a year and tells judges to their faces in federal and state court that he thinks they have ties to organized crime and need to recuse themselves from his cases -- such as those seeking to foreclose on his Lake Forest home, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Lynch, 46, sees a conspiracy of judges linked to law firms that represent Alcoa trying to take him down. He suspected his own lawyers were involved. Lynch said when one judge seemed ready to rule in his favor, the case was suddenly transferred to another judge who ruled against him, according to the newspaper.
Cook County Judge Alexander White told Lynch two weeks ago "Counsel, that's libelous. . .. I have never received a penny," in response to Lynch's demand that White "admit or deny" ties to organized crime, the paper reported.
On Friday, Lynch asked McNamara to let him bring in a source from an organized crime family to back up his claims, but the judge said she had heard enough.
Lynch's McCook Metals of Chicago used to buy aluminum from Longview's Reynolds plant to make into finished products. Lynch sued to stop the merger of Alcoa and Reynolds Metals Co. in 2000. Alcoa responded by agreeing to sell the Longview smelter to Lynch's Michigan Avenue Partners. Instead, Lynch formed a separate company, Longview Aluminum LLC, to purchase the Longview smelter in 2001.
Both McCook Metals and Longview Aluminum went bankrupt. But Lynch alleges in court documents and news releases that the companies went bankrupt because judges took bribes from Alcoa and General Electric in return for favorable rulings against Lynch.
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