In Judge Mahoney's final opinion, the court found after a trial on the trustee's complaint that there were no preferential or fraudulent transfers in the debtor's payments to its managing member. The debtor was solvent during the two years preceding bankruptcy, and there was no evidence of actual or constructive fraud in the transfers.

The court granted debtors' motion for summary judgment on the creditors' § 523(a)(2)(A) complaint. Although the debtors' business closed after accepting the creditors' down payment for a pool, there was no evidence of fraud or misrepresentation.

The debtor was formed to be an entity through which funds could be channeled to a South Dakota ethanol plant to operate it while it was in bankruptcy. The debtor was allowed a nearly $1.2 million unsecured claim in the ethanol plant's bankruptcy. The trustee of the debtor and the investors who provided the original funds disputed the ownership of that money. After a trial, the court ruled the money was not property of the debtor's bankruptcy estate and should be distributed to the investors after reimbursing the estate for its legal costs.

The court sustained the confirmation objection of the debtor's former spouse, finding that the debtor's obligation to pay a joint debt and a portion of his former wife's attorney's fees were non-dischargeable support obligations that needed to be accounted for in the plan of reorganization.

The court overruled a creditor's objections to confirmation of a Chapter 13 plan after a trial concerning the existence and valuation of assets. The court found no bad faith under the totality of the circumstances, as the debtor had not intentionally failed to disclose assets and had not intentionally undervalued them. The court also found the debtor was not a head of household and could not claim a homestead exemption, nor did she use her vehicle  for work other than commuting to and from her job, so she was not able to claim a tool-of-the-trade exemption in it.

The court sustained various objections to the debtor's Chapter 11 plan on grounds of feasibility, lack of good faith, and improper classification of claims. Moreover, there is no precedent for allowing a Chapter 11 debtor who has no legal obligation on a note to modify the terms of that note via his plan.

If a "Ponzi scheme presumption" exists in the Eighth Circuit, the trustee may use it in proving the elements of his fraudulent transfer action, subject to rebuttal by the defendant. The evidence demonstrates the existence of a Ponzi scheme based on the conduct of the owner of the debtors.

The court agreed that this adversary proceeding, which had been referred from district court upon a party's bankruptcy filing, should be returned to district court to determine liability for fraud related to the sale of securities. The third-party indemnification and contribution claims against the debtor could be severed and held in abeyance in the bankruptcy court pending the outcome of the district court litigation.

An unsecured junior lien on the debtors' residential real estate may be avoided after the debtors complete Chapter 13 plan payments. The case law in the Eighth Circuit, interpreting Nobelman, permits wholly unsecured liens to be stripped off.

Court granted the defendant's motion to interplead additional parties who may have an interest in the money it held. However, the court deferred resolution of the question of whether the defendant was entitled to recover attorneys' fees for its efforts