WINDSOR — The senior lender for the Future Legends Sports Complex has alleged that Jeff Katofsky, on behalf of the seven limited liability companies that own the complex, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to halt a three-year-old Weld County case that was just a couple of months away from trial.
U.S. Eagle Federal Credit Union is requesting that the bankruptcy judge lift the automatic stay on litigation against Future Legends so the Weld case can continue. Katofsky responded Thursday, stating he needs the breather that Chapter 11 affords to give him time to package the property to sell it and satisfy all claims.
“The Future Legends entities and its consultants, General Capital Partners, have already identified multiple interested buyers of the Future Legends entities in amounts sufficient to meet the requirements of a 11 U.S.C. §363 sale and satisfy legitimate claims. Granting this motion will end those opportunities,” Katofsky wrote. “This is not a motion for relief from stay, it is a motion to dismiss, just days after a bankruptcy filing.”
In its filing, U.S. Eagle states Katofsky “has repeatedly attempted to maneuver his way out of a trial date and has sought to inextricably delay the proceedings in the State Court litigation. The Affiliated Debtors’ bankruptcy filings, and the timing thereof, are Katofsky’s latest effort to avoid the State Court Litigation’s imminent deadlines.”
Katofsky said by selling Future Legends, he can satisfy all claims. “However, U.S. Eagle would prefer to race back to state court, split the assets apart, and have the State Court determine value and rights. This may be a good thing to U.S. Eagle, but it certainly leaves the unsecured creditors with nothing.”
Future Legends has been embroiled in a Weld County case in which subcontractors of Future Legends are suing for unpaid work on the complex, which was joined by lenders who have not been paid on their loans. The case began in 2023 and was halted for six months last year during a Chapter 11 bankruptcy case that a Nevada bankruptcy judge ultimately dismissed. Throughout that case, Katofsky repeatedly said he had secured $260 million in financing to satisfy all claims, but it never materialized. Judge Hilary Barnes stated at the time that the filing was being used as both a sword and a shield against creditors, and she barred another bankruptcy filing for a year. That year was up in April.
Future Legends was an ambitious plan to build a premiere 118-acre sports complex in east Windsor that included hotels, restaurants, two stadiums, a dormitory, soccer and baseball fields, and an inflatable dome, which could accommodate indoor sports. Contractors and their affiliates had built the collegiate stadium and the dome, as well as the framing of the dormitory, but all work halted in 2023 due to lack of payments. The town of Windsor allowed Future Legends to operate under temporary occupancy permits and renewed them eight times before a judge finally shut down the operation in May 2025 after Katofsky and the Future Legends team failed to cure the town’s public safety concerns. The property has been managed by a court-ordered receiver for almost two years to protect the asset for the bank.
Katofsky was facing some deadlines in the Weld case. By July 28 he was to respond to several motions; he was to obtain new counsel by July 29; and he had a July 30 deadline to respond to the motions for sanctions for repeatedly failing to provide discovery documents in the case and ignoring court orders to do so. Two attorneys representing Future Legends and Katofsky throughout the case both withdrew, one just three months after being hired. Katofsky then requested approval to act as the attorney on the case, but Weld District Court Judge Shannon Lyons denied it.
On July 27, Katofsky filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on behalf of all seven LLCs that own the complex, which put an immediate stop to the case in Weld County, which was set for a four-week trial beginning Oct. 6.
Katofsky stated in his response to U.S. Eagle that he is not prepared for the Weld trial and has no attorney: “Debtor filed this Chapter 11 proceeding to orderly adjudicate claims and sell assets under 11 U.S.C. §363 in order to maximize value and pay creditors,” he said. “Requiring Debtors to fight simultaneously on 2 fronts defeats the purpose of these proceedings. If U.S. Eagle is prepared for trial, all that work will still be valid when it comes time for this Court to adjudicate the matter.”
U.S. Eagle, is the largest creditor in the case, and says it is now owed $61 million.
“Like a marionette, he directs the Affiliated Debtors, using the automatic stay as a sword to achieve that goal, as he has done previously with Future Legends 5 … along with a host of other machinations he has undertaken through the years,” the motion states.
U.S. Eagle points out that it only wishes to proceed in the Weld County case to “sort out the relative rights of the parties, rather than to allow the matter to remain stayed, as costs continue to accrue.” That case has 30 parties, and many jockeying for seniority positions to ensure eventual payment of their liens.
The motion states that lien priority is not only a significant factor in the Weld case, but the bankruptcy case, as well.
“Allowing the State Court Suit to proceed with the State Court Litigation for the limited purposes set forth herein will result in the resolution of questions of fact and liability that are significant in the each of the Affiliated Debtors’ Bankruptcy Cases,” the motion stated.
Katofsky stated that he is actively trying to sell the Future Legends assets, and he cannot litigate two cases at the same time.
“Forcing Debtor, who has no counsel in state court and limited funds, to litigate on two fronts, on issues that 1) should be litigated in normal course in this Court; 2) may never have to be litigated at all; 3) will have to be, at least in part, completely re-ligated in this Court; 4) may cause a degradation or elimination of value in assets; and 5) use its limited assets or to litigate the above, is likely to result in a failed plan and severe hurt to creditors who would otherwise be paid under a proper sale.”
