A River Forest real estate developer has turned to federal bankruptcy court to secure his freedom, arguing a Cook County judge wrongly sent him to Cook County Jail, perhaps indefinitely, at the behest of his ex-wife, largely over $1.6 million in legal bills he says he doesn't have the money to pay.
On Dec. 11, Frank M. "Marty" Paris filed an emergency motion in Chicago bankruptcy court, asking Judge David Cleary to order him released from jail, where he says he has been held for days in violation of his rights under federal bankruptcy law to pressure him into fulfilling demands for money from lawyers who have represented him and his ex-wife, Kerry, in their seven-years-long highly contentious divorce proceedings.
Paris has been in Cook County Jail in general population, since he was arrested on a civil warrant, known as a writ of body attachment, for alleged contempt of court at the order of Cook County Judge Abbey Fishman Romanek.
Thomas C Cronin
| cronincoltd.com
To secure his release, Romanek ordered Marty Paris to pay a $500,000 bond; turn over large amounts of property to his ex-wife; and secure a $2.5 million life insurance policy, to be paid entirely to his ex-wife upon his death.
The jailing marks the second time Cook County judges have ordered him incarcerated during the divorce proceedings that began in 2016. The couple had married in 2002 and have seven children, according to court documents.
Paris, founder and president of Sedgwick Development in Chicago, had been jailed for five days in 2017 at the order of Cook County Judge Karen Bowes, allegedly for failure to comply with orders from that judge to set aside $750,000 to pay his then-wife's legal bills.
Throughout the process, Paris has argued the nature of his business mean that seemingly tens of millions of dollars in revenue that appear on balance sheets and income statements don't actually equate to money in his bank accounts. Rather, Paris has argued those revenue figures represent "phantom income" that merely passes through his business to lenders who help to finance his company's residential building projects in Chicago and nearby suburbs.
However, judges have consistently sided with his ex-wife in finding that they believe Paris has a net worth of more than $20 million, and should be able to afford to pay off court-ordered judgments, including thousands of dollars each month in alimony and child support plus all living expenses for the homes held by his ex-wife, tens of thousands of dollars annually for his children's "activities," and millions in legal bills for attorneys who represented him and his ex-wife.
Lawyers who have backed Paris' incarceration over the unpaid bills include attorneys from the firms of Lake Toback DiDomenico and Hurst Robin Kay & Allen, who have represented Paris; and attorneys from the firms of Cronin & Co. and Angelini Ori & Abate, who have represented Kerry Paris in the proceedings.
Among others who would receive a cut of proceeds is believed to be attorney Sean Crotty, of the firm of Crotty & Schiltz. It is believed that Crotty has been romantically involved with Kerry Paris. According to court documents, he also has been recently divorced.
Former Cook County Judge Tim Murphy formally dissolved the Paris' marriage in December 2022.
While Paris has paid at least $500,000 in family support - or about $30,000 per month - since last December, he has not paid those additional sums, saying he can't.
However, the court wrangling has continued since the divorce was finalized. Throughout 2023, Kerry Paris and various attorneys from both sides filed petitions with Judge Romanek, who replaced Murphy following his retirement, seeking to hold Marty Paris in civil contempt of court.
Romanek granted virtually every one of the petitions, signing her name frequently to orders drafted by Cronin, on behalf of Kerry Paris.
In mid-October, Romanek agreed to issue a writ of body attachment against Paris, directing police to arrest Paris and put him in jail until he meets enough of the payment demands from the lawyers and his ex-wife to satisfy the judge, for now.
In November, Romanek further rejected Marty Paris' request to reconsider the divorce judgment. In that motion, Paris had argued, again, that the assessment of his ability to pay was based on a simplistic and unsophisticated reading of his business and personal financial records. He further has asserted his financial situation has changed substantially in recent years, amid turmoil and rapid changes in Chicago real estate markets following the Covid pandemic, which have threatened the viability of his ongoing projects.
Paris has also been subjected to other legal fights over those developments, according to court records and published reports.
The judge, however, said she did not believe there was a reason to revisit Judge Murphy's assessment from a year ago.
On Dec. 8, police arrested Marty Paris, allegedly outside an event for at least one of his children.
He has been in Cook County Jail since, held on the bond ordered by Romanek. The jailing comes despite new Illinois criminal justice reform, which supporters, including prominent Democratic politicians like Gov. JB Pritzker, said were needed to keep non-violent accused offenders from being held in jail indefinitely, simply because they say they can't afford to post large cash bonds ordered by judges to secure their release.
Before his jailing, Paris filed bankruptcy in Chicago federal court.
Following that filing, Paris sought to use the automatic stay on debt enforcement to persuade his ex-wife and Judge Romanek to allow him to be released from jail.
According to filings in bankruptcy court, however, Judge Romanek appears to have refused to do so, ruling that the big money Paris has been ordered to pay through his divorce proceedings are legally shielded from the bankruptcy case. Therefore, Judge Romanek appears to have ruled that Paris should remain in Cook County Jail until he pays the money Romanek ordered him to pay.
In the Dec. 11 emergency petition, Paris argues Romanek's decision, and his ex-wife's refusal to request his release, is illegal, under federal bankruptcy law.
They point to a 2020 decision from U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis, who ruled "that civil contempt is not a basis for continued incarceration of the Debtor in a state jail, and such an incarceration did not come within the 'police and regulatory power' exception to the automatic stay."
Kerry Paris and her attorneys have refused to ask Judge Romanek to release Marty Paris from jail, and instead have responded with an emergency petition of their own, asking Bankruptcy Judge Cleary to agree with Romanek that Marty should remain in jail until he pays what the Cook County courts have ordered him to pay.
They say the bankruptcy filing was a "textbook bad faith" filing entirely to thwart state court contempt proceedings.
Lawyers signing the petition seeking to keep Marty Paris in jail include attorneys Steven R. Jakubowski and Carolina Y. Sales, of the firm of Robbins DiMonte; Thomas C. Cronin, of Cronin & Co.; and Sean Crotty and Elizabeth Richert, of Crotty & Schiltz, all of Chicago.
Marty Paris is represented in the bankruptcy proceedings by attorney Scott R. Clar, of Crane Simon Clar & Goodman, of Chicago.