Federal court rejects Boyd bankruptcy appeal in hemp case

DENVER — A federal district court has rejected a Berthoud resident’s appeal of a U.S. Bankruptcy Court ruling that had determined that because of fraudulent activity, he could not use bankruptcy to discharge a court-ordered penalty.

Christopher Boyd’s appeal was denied Sept. 26 by U.S. District Judge Robert E. Blackburn, and the case was officially closed on Tuesday.

The case began with a determination that Boyd and his father, former Boulder Best Bank president Alan Boyd, defrauded a Colorado hemp farmer, Adam Desmond, owner and manager of Needle Rock Farms. They promised to process the farmer’s 4,415-pound hemp crop into CBD and split the proceeds — except that the hemp crop disappeared. 

The Boyds lost their court case, appealed and lost that. The hemp farmer, unable to collect on the court judgment, assigned his interest in the judgment to Hemp Recovery Co. LLC, which continued to seek collection.

Christopher Boyd then filed Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Hemp Recovery Co. filed an adversarial action within the bankruptcy case in an effort to prevent discharge of the court-ordered judgment, and was successful. However, Christopher Boyd appealed to the U.S. District Court in Denver, and pleadings were filed in November and December, with Hemp Recovery seeking affirmation of the bankruptcy court judgment and payment of the $393,811 debt.

In his 13-page ruling, Blackburn wrote that “the findings of fact, conclusions of law and judgment entered by the bankruptcy court on July 10, 2023, are correct. Thus, the order and judgment of the bankruptcy court are affirmed.”

Blackburn noted that “the appellant contends the bankruptcy court erred when it relied on verbal statements of the appellant concerning the financial condition of the appellant to find the fraud claims non-dischargeable,” but concluded that “this argument goes nowhere.”

In an email to BizWest, one of Boyd’s lawyers, Denver-based attorney Stephen E. Berken, said no further appeals are planned. 

The bankruptcy case, filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Colorado, is Case No. 22-cv-12455. The appeal is U.S. District Court Case No. 23-cv-1888 PAB.

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