HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania (Legal Newsline) — Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane announced the filing of a legal action that seeks to help consumers recover financial losses from the owners of Consignments on Centre, which had filed for bankruptcy.
Kathleen and Edward Roche owned and operated a consignment store at 5503 Centre Ave. in Pittsburgh. In summer 2015, the store closed. The Roches filed for bankruptcy and as part of their proposal, any consumer owed money by the store would be eligible for 10 percent recovery. The remainder would be discharged.
Kane’s office is challenging this proposal and, if successful, consumers can seek repayment in full outside of bankruptcy. Her office alleges the Roches incurred debts owed to consumers by false pretenses, false representations, actual fraud or embezzlement. The allegations say the Roches took deals they knew they could not fulfill, and used the funds for their own purposes instead of remitting to consumers.
The total claims are approximately $50,000. There are also 200 people who consigned items to the store and allegedly did not receive the proceeds from the sale of their items.