AmeriFirst is now in post-confirmation plan administration, with the live docket focused on monetizing estate litigation rather than operating the mortgage platform. The case began on August 24, 2023, when the Mesa-based independent mortgage originator filed chapter 11 after a sharp contraction in residential mortgage lending, including refinancing volume, drove a $16.8 million net loss for 2022 and defaults under its prepetition credit agreement; shortly before filing, the prepetition secured parties exercised control remedies, replaced governance, and installed T. Scott Avila as chief restructuring officer, according to the Avila first-day declarationDkt. 20.
The early case was shaped by a controlled wind-down rather than a going-concern reorganization. AmeriFirst sought authority to stabilize cash management, pay employees, and access up to $5.0 million of DIP financing, including $2.775 million available immediately on interim approval, while addressing the asserted $15.8 million prepetition secured debt owed to RCP-affiliated lenders under asserted first-priority liens in the Avila first-day declarationDkt. 20. A follow-on declaration made the debtor’s path clearer: the objective was an orderly wind-down of lending platforms and sale of related assets, with additional first-day relief for claims noticing, taxes, insurance, surety bonds, and utilities to preserve value during the process, as described in the additional first-day declarationDkt. 76. Claims activity reflected both ordinary-course wind-down liabilities and mortgage-industry counterparties, including lease rejection-type exposure and Fannie Mae’s contingent, unliquidated claim tied to servicing obligations and the transfer of mortgage servicing rights under sale and adequate-protection orders.
The current center of gravity is recovery litigation. On May 28, 2026, the court entered an order establishing streamlined preference-action proceduresDkt. 1284 for 31 adversary proceedings brought under sections 502, 547, and 550, staying formal discovery through mediation, allowing limited consensual response extensions, and setting a common litigation track for unresolved actions. The same day, the court granted the Plan Administrator substitution orderDkt. 1285, replacing the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors with Joe Cashel as plaintiff in those proceedings and updating the captions accordingly. Near-term, unresolved preference actions move toward an August 14, 2026 mediation referral date, August 28 mediator-selection deadline, and November 20 mediation-completion deadline, with litigation deadlines extending into 2027 if settlements do not resolve the claims.
