The Chapter 7 case: trustee, servicing and claims against insiders

analysisTricolor Holdings, LLC filed a voluntary Chapter 7 petition on September 10, 2025 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas in Dallas (case 25-33487-mvl7), assigned to Judge Michelle V. Larson. Anne Elizabeth Burns, a bankruptcy lawyer with Cavazos Hendricks Poirot, P.C. in Dallas, is the Chapter 7 trustee; the debtor was represented by Thomas Robert Califano of Sidley Austin LLP, whose representation is marked terminated on April 10, 2026. Eighteen debtors' cases are jointly administered, from Tricolor Holdings and its intermediate holding companies to the dealership, finance, insurance, mortgage, tax and receivables companies and Apoyo Financial, LLC, with case numbers from 25-33489 to 25-33515; the warehouse SPVs, the depositor Tricolor Auto Receivables 2 LLC and the TAST trusts are not debtors. The trustee's exhibit list writes the 25-33492 debtor as "Tricolor Asset Funding, LLC", while its own case record names TAG Asset Funding, LLC at the group's Irving address. Aggregator records of individual cases show, for example, Tricolor Auto Group, LLC (3:25-bk-33496) and Tricolor Insurance Agency, LLC (3:25-bk-33512) filed under Chapter 7 on the same day with the Tricolor Holdings case as lead case, and a trustee's interim report in the TAG Asset Funding case projecting a final report by September 30, 2030; the underlying court papers are not retained, and one aggregator card names a different judge (Scott W Everett) for the Tricolor Auto Group case, whereas the jointly administered case is before Judge Larson. ^{1 2 3 4 5 6 7}

analysisAt the first hearing, on September 18, 2025, the court granted joint administration and approved a stipulation between the trustee and Vervent, Inc., which she had sought by emergency motion the day before and to which TBK Bank had objected. Counsel appeared for, among others, Vervent, Fifth Third Bank, Wilmington Trust, TBK Bank, JPMorgan Chase Bank, Origin Bank, Cox Automotive, ACV Capital, Manheim Remarketing, Clear Haven William Street and the U.S. Trustee. Vervent, previously the backup servicer, said in its own press release that on September 19 the court authorised it to take over servicing of most of Tricolor's approximately 100,000 auto loans and that it had not been involved in Tricolor's origination or servicing before the collapse. Origin Bank and Fifth Third Bank and JPMorgan Chase Bank, each as administrative agent, entered appearances as creditors on the day of the filing, Daniel Chu as a creditor on September 12 and TBK Bank on September 15, 2025; BlackRock, Inc., BlackRock Financial Management, Inc. and the Senior Preferred Members also appear as creditors, all as recorded on a commercial docket aggregator's case page whose underlying court papers are not retained. The same page lists SMBC Nikko Securities America, Inc. as a creditor, an Ad Hoc Activist Recovery Group of TAST Noteholders, Fifth Third Securities and Wilmington Trust as interested parties, Jerry Kollar as an interested party and the former executive Mauricio Delgado as a creditor; the records do not describe any role of SMBC Nikko in Tricolor's financing. ^{8 9 10 11}

analysisOn November 24, 2025 the trustee filed the debtor's schedules of assets and liabilities and its statement of financial affairs (documents 465 and 466), which are not among the retained documents. She wound down the operating business through the estate: on November 26, 2025 the court granted her first omnibus motion to reject unexpired real property leases and abandon certain personal property, and she moved on an emergency basis to sell estate assets free and clear of liens and to set sale procedures (document 456). On October 6, 2026 she filed a second motion to extend the vehicle sales deadline, with a list of the remaining vehicles; a docket summary service reported that about 2,100 vehicles were still unsold, with title processing delaying completion, and that a hearing on extending sales to November 30 and on selling vehicles without clear title was set for October 14, 2026. ^{1 2 3}

analysisServicing of the loan book continued under the trustee's arrangements with Vervent, the backup and later successor servicer, which the portfolio page of its investor Stone Point Capital, an investor since 2016, describes as one of the largest third-party servicers of commercial and consumer loan and lease portfolios in the United States, headquartered in San Diego. The court repeatedly extended interim procedures for invoicing, paying and reconciling servicer fees on "contested and clean accounts", with a second extension order on July 20, 2026 and a third motion by Vervent on September 30, 2026, and on August 5, 2026 the trustee moved for authority to enter into a successor servicing agreement with Vervent. The car buyers' payments are themselves collateral for the warehouse facilities and trusts: on January 21, 2026 numerous Tricolor buyers filed motions for relief from the automatic stay (documents 676 to 690), and on January 26 Vervent and the trustee filed omnibus objections, the trustee's directed against relief from the stay and against a freeze of payments. ^{4 3 5 6}

analysisOn December 19, 2025 the trustee sued Daniel Chu, Jerome Kollar, David Goodgame and Ameryn Seibold in the bankruptcy court (adversary proceeding 3:25-ap-03126, Judge Larson), with claims for turnover of property, preferences and fraudulent transfers. The noteholders described the complaint as revealing that the trustee had confirmed widespread securitisation fraud, including clone loans and fictitious receivables. The complaint is not retained, its claims are allegations and no answers are in the record. On the trustee's notice the court stayed the proceeding and its deadlines on June 1, 2026, pending the criminal case; Chu's lawyers say the stay was on the government's motion. ^{1 2 3}

analysisOn December 31, 2025 the trustee also sued Chu and Chu Family Investments LLC in the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles (case 25STCV38413), alleging breach of the fiduciary duty of loyalty, unjust enrichment and conversion and seeking a constructive trust over a residential property held by Chu through that company; the complaint describes Chu as chief executive officer, president and a manager of Tricolor Holdings and of each of the other debtors. She recorded notices of lis pendens in January 2026, withdrew them on April 1, 2026 and on April 6, 2026 requested dismissal without prejudice as to both defendants, so the claims were not adjudicated. Chu Family Investments, LLC is a Texas limited liability company (Texas file 0805340817) created on December 15, 2023; its legal entity identifier, 254900Z3O40SMOP0ZD19, was first registered on August 21, 2025 and has lapsed, and the record does not disclose a parent. ^{4 5 6}

analysisChu moved on November 24, 2025 for leave to use the proceeds of Tricolor's directors' and officers' liability policies for his defence costs. According to a December 2025 news report, the trustee asked the court that month to limit his access to $15 million of such insurance, noting that he already faced Justice Department and SEC investigations and that "the evidence the Trustee has obtained to date places Mr. Chu firmly at the center of the fraud"; that filing is known only from the report. On July 8, 2026 the court granted Chu's agreed motion to use the proceeds of an excess policy issued by CNA for covered defence expenses within that policy's limit; the order concerns only the CNA excess policy. ^{7 8 9}

analysisTwo other adversary proceedings against Tricolor Holdings were brought by private individuals, who are not named here, on September 19, 2025 and October 2, 2026; the second objects to discharge and to the dischargeability of debts on grounds including false pretences and actual fraud. ¹⁰

analysisFrom July 2026 the trustee sought examinations and documents under Bankruptcy Rule 2004 from the institutions that financed or administered Tricolor's facilities and trusts: JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (agreed order entered July 10, 2026); Wilmington Trust, N.A., Wilmington Trust Company and affiliates (July 1), which she described as collateral custodian and account bank of certain warehouse facilities, indenture trustee and custodian of certain trusts and owner trustee for certain notes; Ares Agent Services, L.P. and Ares Management LLC (July 8); BlackRock, Inc., BlackRock Financial Management, Inc. and the Senior Preferred Members (July 8); Barclays Bank PLC and Barclays Capital Inc. (July 13, withdrawn on September 25, 2026 without a stated reason); and M&T Bank Corporation and AllianceBernstein Securitized Assets Master Fund, L.P. (July 31). JPMorgan and TBK Bank also filed agreed motions to examine each other. The BlackRock parties objected on July 29, 2026, and the court held a status conference on that motion on October 7, 2026; the docket entries state neither the objection's grounds nor the result. Rule 2004 examinations are investigative, and the docket does not say what claims, if any, the trustee will bring. ^{1 2 3 4}

analysisThe trustee also pursued Rule 2004 discovery from Crowe LLP, formerly Crowe Horwath LLP, Tricolor's auditor (a stipulation on the time to respond on July 20, 2026), from FTI Consulting, Inc. (resolved by agreed order on September 30, 2026) and from certain former officers, who are not named here, for whom an order was entered on July 22, 2026. In July 2026 the court approved her retention of Reid Collins & Tsai LLP as special litigation counsel effective June 4, 2026. ^{1 3}