J. Robert Wilson, left, is given an award at Colorado State University on Oct. 15, 2015. (Colorado State University)
A nursing home company said that its longtime CEO stole more than $1 million through schemes both simple and complex while it was careening toward bankruptcy.
J. Robert Wilson, who goes by Bob, first parlayed a construction job at a Fort Collins nursing home in 1970 into an administrative role after the place went bankrupt, according to online biographies. His company, Columbine Health Systems, now runs 13 facilities in northern Colorado, employing 1,650 people to care for 1,450, according to Columbine.
In 2016, Wilson was given an honorary doctorate by Colorado State University, the school’s highest honor. His name is also on an art gallery at the National Western Center in Denver.
A lawsuit filed Oct. 27 threatens to cast that success in a new light, though Wilson said it “lacks truth and merit” and was filed by extortionists who tried to take $10 million from him.
North Shore Manor is a skilled nursing facility in Loveland that was started in the mid-1970s. Wilson bought a minority stake in 1980, becoming its general manager and then CEO on his way to acquiring his 13 facilities in northern Colorado. He also bought a stake in North Shore’s real estate holding firm and created vendor companies to provide services there.
According to North Shore Manor, which has since removed Wilson as CEO and investigated its finances under him, trouble first began in 2016, when Wilson caused North Shore’s holding company to borrow $2.5 million, collateralized by North Shore’s real estate. The significance of that loan would not be apparent until it came due this year, the company says now.
Meanwhile, the onset of the pandemic sent occupancy rates plummeting and battered the nursing home’s finances. Wilson convinced other shareholders to borrow another $1 million in 2022, then wrote an $818,000 check from North Shore to himself, the company said.
Around that same time, according to North Shore, Wilson decided to retire and sell his stake in the nursing home. But first, he demanded to be repaid $668,000 that he had supposedly loaned the company. North Shore said there are no documents for those alleged loans.
Bob Wilson, right, at a Colorado State University dinner after he was awarded an honorary degree on May 13, 2016. (Colorado State University)
In December 2022, North Shore Manor’s board of directors removed Wilson as CEO and hired a consulting firm to investigate the company’s financials. Two weeks later, Wilson wrote a company check to himself for $30,000. Two months after that, when North Shore had $104,000 in the bank, he wrote a $100,000 company check to himself, North Shore claims.
While North Shore’s consultant was uncovering instances of double-billing and steep markups that the nursing home had been paying to Wilson-controlled vendors, Wilson was buying the 2016 loan just before it came due, according to last week’s lawsuit. Unable to repay that loan and afraid of losing its property to Wilson, North Shore went bankrupt in March.
“Wilson was…moving North Shore’s profits from his left pocket to his right pocket, all at the expense and financial ruin of North Shore,” the nursing home company claims.
Having emerged from bankruptcy, North Shore is now suing its former CEO to recover his ill-gotten gains, it said. North Shore believes that he stole $1.1 million directly by writing checks to himself, plus an additional undetermined amount through his “empire of vendors.”
In a prepared statement, Wilson and Columbine said they have read last week’s lawsuit.
“The complaint lacks truth and merit and was filed in response to a pending complaint Mr. Wilson filed earlier against certain partners of the North Shore business who tried to extort $10,000,000 from Mr. Wilson,” the statement, sent by a spokeswoman, alleges.
On Sept. 19, Wilson filed a complaint against other shareholders in North Shore. Because the dispute involves a contract with an arbitration clause, the case was filed with an arbitrator.
And it told a very different tale.
In Wilson’s version of events, his leadership made other North Shore shareholders and their heirs wealthy before the pandemic. Then he lent more than $1 million to the company so that it could survive and asked others to do the same. They refused; it went bankrupt. He said that he bought the 2016 loan “to protect himself” but doesn’t elaborate further.
Wilson said that a “secret meeting” was held to remove him as CEO, without his knowledge and in breach of contracts. Then came the crimes. “Bob’s stature makes him vulnerable to extortionists,” his complaint states. “The heirs knew this and set out to shake down Bob.”
Wilson says the other shareholders in North Shore, who are all heirs of the nursing home’s deceased founders, offered to sell him their shares in North Shore’s real estate holding company for $10 million, a price he considers way too high. When he refused, they filed bankruptcy to avoid paying him $1 million and to damage his reputation, he said.
“Bob could have succumbed to the extortion and paid the heirs $10 million to stop the defamation and attacks. Instead, Bob seeks remedy through arbitration,” his lawyers wrote.
Wilson is asking an arbitrator to force the other shareholders to inject capital into North Shore and pay him an undetermined amount he is owed. He also wants to be reinstalled as managing partner and believes the heirs should cover the attorney fees he has accumulated.
Wilson’s lawyers are John O’Brien and Scott Sandberg in Spencer Fane’s Denver office. North Shore’s are Chris Carrington and Michael Mulvania, with Richards Carrington in Denver.
J. Robert Wilson, left, is given an award at Colorado State University on Oct. 15, 2015. (Colorado State University)
A nursing home company said that its longtime CEO stole more than $1 million through schemes both simple and complex while it was careening toward bankruptcy.
J. Robert Wilson, who goes by Bob, first parlayed a construction job at a Fort Collins nursing home in 1970 into an administrative role after the place went bankrupt, according to online biographies. His company, Columbine Health Systems, now runs 13 facilities in northern Colorado, employing 1,650 people to care for 1,450, according to Columbine.
In 2016, Wilson was given an honorary doctorate by Colorado State University, the school’s highest honor. His name is also on an art gallery at the National Western Center in Denver.
A lawsuit filed Oct. 27 threatens to cast that success in a new light, though Wilson said it “lacks truth and merit” and was filed by extortionists who tried to take $10 million from him.
North Shore Manor is a skilled nursing facility in Loveland that was started in the mid-1970s. Wilson bought a minority stake in 1980, becoming its general manager and then CEO on his way to acquiring his 13 facilities in northern Colorado. He also bought a stake in North Shore’s real estate holding firm and created vendor companies to provide services there.
According to North Shore Manor, which has since removed Wilson as CEO and investigated its finances under him, trouble first began in 2016, when Wilson caused North Shore’s holding company to borrow $2.5 million, collateralized by North Shore’s real estate. The significance of that loan would not be apparent until it came due this year, the company says now.
Meanwhile, the onset of the pandemic sent occupancy rates plummeting and battered the nursing home’s finances. Wilson convinced other shareholders to borrow another $1 million in 2022, then wrote an $818,000 check from North Shore to himself, the company said.
Around that same time, according to North Shore, Wilson decided to retire and sell his stake in the nursing home. But first, he demanded to be repaid $668,000 that he had supposedly loaned the company. North Shore said there are no documents for those alleged loans.
Bob Wilson, right, at a Colorado State University dinner after he was awarded an honorary degree on May 13, 2016. (Colorado State University)
In December 2022, North Shore Manor’s board of directors removed Wilson as CEO and hired a consulting firm to investigate the company’s financials. Two weeks later, Wilson wrote a company check to himself for $30,000. Two months after that, when North Shore had $104,000 in the bank, he wrote a $100,000 company check to himself, North Shore claims.
While North Shore’s consultant was uncovering instances of double-billing and steep markups that the nursing home had been paying to Wilson-controlled vendors, Wilson was buying the 2016 loan just before it came due, according to last week’s lawsuit. Unable to repay that loan and afraid of losing its property to Wilson, North Shore went bankrupt in March.
“Wilson was…moving North Shore’s profits from his left pocket to his right pocket, all at the expense and financial ruin of North Shore,” the nursing home company claims.
Having emerged from bankruptcy, North Shore is now suing its former CEO to recover his ill-gotten gains, it said. North Shore believes that he stole $1.1 million directly by writing checks to himself, plus an additional undetermined amount through his “empire of vendors.”
In a prepared statement, Wilson and Columbine said they have read last week’s lawsuit.
“The complaint lacks truth and merit and was filed in response to a pending complaint Mr. Wilson filed earlier against certain partners of the North Shore business who tried to extort $10,000,000 from Mr. Wilson,” the statement, sent by a spokeswoman, alleges.
On Sept. 19, Wilson filed a complaint against other shareholders in North Shore. Because the dispute involves a contract with an arbitration clause, the case was filed with an arbitrator.
And it told a very different tale.
In Wilson’s version of events, his leadership made other North Shore shareholders and their heirs wealthy before the pandemic. Then he lent more than $1 million to the company so that it could survive and asked others to do the same. They refused; it went bankrupt. He said that he bought the 2016 loan “to protect himself” but doesn’t elaborate further.
Wilson said that a “secret meeting” was held to remove him as CEO, without his knowledge and in breach of contracts. Then came the crimes. “Bob’s stature makes him vulnerable to extortionists,” his complaint states. “The heirs knew this and set out to shake down Bob.”
Wilson says the other shareholders in North Shore, who are all heirs of the nursing home’s deceased founders, offered to sell him their shares in North Shore’s real estate holding company for $10 million, a price he considers way too high. When he refused, they filed bankruptcy to avoid paying him $1 million and to damage his reputation, he said.
“Bob could have succumbed to the extortion and paid the heirs $10 million to stop the defamation and attacks. Instead, Bob seeks remedy through arbitration,” his lawyers wrote.
Wilson is asking an arbitrator to force the other shareholders to inject capital into North Shore and pay him an undetermined amount he is owed. He also wants to be reinstalled as managing partner and believes the heirs should cover the attorney fees he has accumulated.
Wilson’s lawyers are John O’Brien and Scott Sandberg in Spencer Fane’s Denver office. North Shore’s are Chris Carrington and Michael Mulvania, with Richards Carrington in Denver.
