Former Assisted Living Concepts CEO Files Suit … Again

In the latest drama in the ongoing story of former Assisted Living Concepts CEO Laurie Bebo, the fired executive has filed a lawsuit against the company for $900,000 in attorney fees and other expenses she incurred as a result of defending herself in a federal civil case and a lawsuit against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

Bebo’s new lawsuit claims Assisted Living Concepts’ bylaws must protect employees who become involved in litigation and at least provide her with advance payments for her legal costs, which were incurred when the SEC sued her for allegedly falsifying documents and her return lawsuit against the SEC. Bebo was fired in May 2012.

The SEC sued Bebo and Assisted Living Concepts CFO John Buono in December 2014, alleging the executives falsified documents with fake occupants at some of the company’s senior living communities in order to meet lease requirements.

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In response to the lawsuit, Bebo sued the SEC in U.S. District Court, saying the regulator violated her right to a jury trial by filing charges in its in-house court instead of a federal court. She also alleged in that lawsuit that the legal venue would disadvantage her defense and not allow enough time to review 1.5 million pages of investigative files. Her challenge was denied August, but a ruling has not been issued in the case against her.

Bebo alleges Assisted Living Concepts did not meet the amounts she submitted in invoices for legal and other expenses and failed to pay the $581,202 in attorney fees, $43,524 for expert witnesses and $245,619 in other submitted invoices, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit also says Assisted Living Concepts insisted Bebo negotiate lower fees with her attorneys at Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren SC in Milwaukee, the Milwaukee Business Journal reported.

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Assisted Living Concepts was sold in 2013 to TPG Capital, a private equity firm, for $278 million and changed its name to Enlivant. The company has not responded to Bebo’s lawsuit, which was filed August 27, the Milwaukee Business Journal reported. 

Written by Amy Baxter 

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