4e Brands Northamerica held 7,402 pallets of inventory, including adulterated hand sanitizer that was recalled or refused, in seven warehouses in Laredo, Conroe and Fort Worth, Texas, and in Indianapolis, Indiana, as of February 2022.
4e Brands solicited and evaluated several proposals from third parties for the destruction of all of the inventory in the U.S. On June 28, 2022, the judge presiding over the bankruptcy proceeding granted 4e’s motion seeking approval to begin destruction of its inventory.
4e Brands Northamerica “has worked with its approved destruction vendor, Latitude Liquids, to transport and destroy all inventory in the most efficient and cost-effective manner.”
Through the first week of August 2022, 4e reported it had removed approximately 2,700 pallets (about 36% of all pallets) from warehouses in Indiana and Texas and “sent them for destruction at Latitude’s destruction facility in Oklahoma.”
Whether that timeline was achieved is unclear because David Dunn, chief restructuring officer of 4e Brands Northamerica, did not respond to an inquiry from Southwest Ledger.
The Ledger sent an email to Dunn, and left a voicemail message for Brannan Bordwine’s legal counselor Peter Scimeca, asking whether 4e contracted with Bordwine to store some of its recalled hand sanitizer and/or soaps and lotions at Bordwine Development sites in Chickasha and Ninnekah. No reply was received from either man.
Additionally, the Ledger has found no court document that identifies Latitude’s “destruction facility” in Oklahoma.
A phone message the Ledger left for Blessed Chickasha Collective’s attorney R. Lyle Clemens on March 29 asked about a sentence in the lawsuit he wrote, claiming that Brannan Bordwine and his companies are “part of a joint venture with [Latitude Liquids]” in transporting, recycling and/or disposing of hand sanitizer.
Clemens was asked whether he has any proof to substantiate the alleged business relationship between Bordwine and Latitude Liquids; the Oklahoma City attorney did not respond.
In its phone message the Ledger also asked Scimeca whether Bordwine and Latitude Liquids have a business relationship; no reply was received.
However, Scott Thompson, executive director of the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality, revealed that on Aug. 2, 2022, the DEQ received emails from Brannan Bordwine that included a “Latitude Liquids Proposal for Service” and an “Excavation @ 1003 West Quail Road Scope of Work” in Ninnekah, where a disposal pit was found to have been dug.
Southwest Ledger checked records of the Oklahoma Secretary of State on March 29 and found 28 companies with names that include “Latitude.” None was named Latitude Liquids.
When an employee in the Secretary of State’s office was asked last November whether a company which is not registered with that agency can operate a business in Oklahoma, the employee replied, “That’s a question we cannot answer. That’s for a legal firm or a CPA.”