Scott McDonald of McDonald Homes owes nearly $6 million to businesses and individuals in Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona and elsewhere, according to his 140-page Chapter 7 filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Colorado on Friday.

Whether any of the 465 creditors - including 130 from Wyoming, mostly in and around Casper - will ever collect remains to be seen.

One of them has his doubts.

"We're in the dark as to what's going to happen yet," Ron McMurry of McMurry Ready Mix said Tuesday.

McMurry estimates McDonald owes his company about $70,000, not counting interest and attorneys fees.

But the "amount of claim" listed in the bankruptcy filing for McMurry Ready Mix is "unknown."

About two-thirds of the creditors holding unsecured nonpriority claims have "unknown" amounts listed, which means McDonald's total debt could far exceed the nearly $6 million listed in the Chapter 7 filing. Chapter 7 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code allows debtors to liquidate their property, pay creditors, and discharge other debts.

That could be bad news for McMurry.

"It could mean a partial payment; it could mean no payment," he said. "We probably won't get full payment."

McMurry Ready Mix did concrete work on houses in the Falcon Crest subdivision south of East 24th Street and Sagewood Avenue. McDonald also built houses in the Windsor Heights subdivision northeast of 18th and South Missouri streets.

Late last summer, McDonald began running into financial problems.

Some vendors and subcontractors including McMurry Ready Mix filed liens against those properties. A lien is a claim or a charge on a property for payment of a debt, and offers creditors a faster way to recover a debt than through the courts.

Last fall, McDonald blamed his business problems on his former chief financial officer, Todd Pembroke, who embezzled and committed other crimes against him and a previous employer.

In December, McDonald vowed to pay his subcontractors and suppliers.

On June 11, Judge James Hiatt of Larimer District Court sentenced Pembroke to 20 years imprisonment for the embezzlement crime, according to the Colorado Court Database.

McDonald had estimated Pembroke embezzled at least $300,000.

That amount, however, fell far short of the more than $800,000 in liens and lawsuit claims filed by March, according to Natrona County court records.

More lawsuits have been filed since.

In March, a telephone receptionist at McDonald Homes said Scott McDonald had no comment.

Since then, his Web site McDonaldhomes.net apparently has been dismantled and previously listed phone numbers have been disconnected.

The Star-Tribune could not reach his bankruptcy attorney, Ken McCartney of Cheyenne, for comment on Tuesday.

The Chapter 7 filing gives an idea of McDonald's financial situation.

Under assets, McDonald listed $2,068,000 in real property holdings: three in Kingman, Ariz., one in Casper, and two in Fort Collins including a $1.1 million home.

He also listed $93,795 in personal property, including vehicles and a 2005 Bourget motorcycle.

The creditors fall into three categories.

* Creditors holding secured claims: Ten financial institutions with vehicle loans and mortgages are first in line to be paid from the liquidation of McDonald's assets, and he owes them $1,768,922.

* Creditors holding unsecured priority claims: The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment has a claim of $7,214; the claims of the Colorado Treasurer and the U.S. Treasury are unknown; and the Wyoming Department of Employment's claim is $42,467. These creditors are second in line to be paid from what, if anything, remains after the creditors holding secured claims are paid.

* Creditors holding unsecured nonpriority claims: These 459 creditors have known claim amounts of $4,018,873. They are last in line to be paid.

Known amounts owed range from $6 owed Grainger Industrial Supply in Casper to a $1 million personal loan from Southern Capital Preservation LLC in Hull, Mass.

For McMurry, the issue is even greater than his "unknown" claim that may rise to $100,000.

It's a matter of trust in a state where a handshake is as good as a signed contract, he said.

"You put a lot of faith in people's words, and if they don't keep their word, it's disappointing," McMurry said.

Reach Tom Morton at (307) 266-0592, or at Tom.Morton@casperstartribune.net.