UPDATE: Orrstown Bank wants to delay the sale of Daryl Heller’s New Jersey beach house

A summons from Daryl Heller’s former business partner has placed Heller’s family members and associates into the legal spotlight.

It’s the second civil action this year to include Heller’s family. The filings come ahead of a meeting in federal bankruptcy court where a court-appointed examiner will search for millions of dollars that seemingly vanished as investors in Heller’s Lancaster-based ATM network business stopped receiving monthly payments.

On March 7, lawyers for Prestige Investment Group and the company’s president, Jerry D. Hostetter of Manheim Township, filed a request for writ of summons in the Lancaster County Court of Common Pleas. Hostetter and Heller co-owned Prestige, which was founded in 2011, legal exhibits show.

Heller’s wife, Charlene, and children, Ethan and Taite, are listed as defendants in the request. So are Heller associates Randall Leaman and Dennis Ream, along with three limited liability corporations: Paramount Management Group, Heller Investment Holdings and Heller Capital Group.

An attorney for Hostetter, Rory Connaughton, declined to comment for this story. Heller was not immediately available: His spokeswoman, Corinna Wilson, said she was no longer working for him and did not have updated contact information. Leaman and Ream did not respond to requests for comment.

READ: Daryl Heller hires N.J. firm for ‘pre-indictment legal services’ ahead of potential fraud charges

Daryl Heller on stage in and undated photo at a fundraising gala for Horizon Empowers, the charity he cofounded to help orphans.  Wil Stoltzfus

In February, Leo M. Gibbons, an attorney for Charlene, Ethan and Taite Heller sent LNP | LancasterOnline a letter advising against contacting the family.

"The Hellers do not want to speak with you and you are directed not to contact or attempt to contact them," Gibbons wrote. "The Hellers have no comment with regard to any matter, and this law firm has no comment with regard to any matter regarding or related to the Hellers."

“In view of the above, any attempts to contact the Hellers by you will be considered to be made with the intent to harass and/or annoy the Hellers,” he wrote.

Gibbons did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.

The writ of summons

Filing a complaint is the most common way to initiate a civil action in Pennsylvania, said Lou Rulli, who is a professor at Penn Carey School of Law. However, there are several reasons to initiate a writ of summons instead.

For one, it's quicker to write, Rulli noted, so it can be a way to get things moving ahead of statutory deadlines.

“Because a Writ of Summons is often used to prevent the statute of limitations from expiring on a legal claim, it is wise to name and serve all possible parties who may be responsible for the wrongful conduct claimed because otherwise the statute of limitations will expire as to any unnamed individual or entity,” Rulli said.

“Similarly, it is important to name all possible parties in a Writ of Summons if a party alleged to have engaged in wrongful conduct is likely moving assets to other individuals or entities as a way of trying to avoid execution on their assets following a judgment entered against them,” he said.

Hostetter has separately sued Heller, and last September, he filed a “derivative action” to appoint a custodian to manage some of the related business entities..

Hostetter is listed as president in this September filing, which states that he owns 40% of class A interests in Prestige and 60% of class B interests. Heller owns 60% of class A assets and 40% of class B assets, it states.

In the September filing, Hostetter’s attorneys said they needed a custodian because Heller was seeking to “oppress” Hostetter and the entity by attempting to prevent the funds from pursuing Paramount.

“Mr. Heller's conduct is a textbook case of self-dealing, bad faith, dilatory, and vexatious conduct, and a Custodian must be appointed to manage the business and affairs of Prestige immediately in order to ensure that the Fund Litigation is reinstated and to prevent Mr. Heller from any further action to harm Prestige and/or the Funds through his role as Controlling Member of Prestige,” the filing states. Heller has since given up control of his control of Prestige.

READ: Timeline of significant events of Daryl Heller's business woes

The defendants

Paramount Management Group, Heller Investment Holdings and Heller Capital Group, all named as defendants in the writ of summons, are business entities tied to Heller’s Lancaster business office — the same office that closed abruptly in December after FBI agents were seen removing boxes from the building.

Leaman, of Manheim Township , was listed as president and chief operating officer of Paramount Management Group.

Ream, also of Manheim Township, was listed as CEO of another Heller company, PowerCoin, in business filings. On LinkedIn, PowerCoin is listed as “A reliable, secure and fast way to buy Bitcoin with Cash.”

On paper, at least, the office building held 50 or more business entities, a labyrinth of limited liability corporations that one plaintiff’s attorney has called “a Ponzi scheme.”

Over the past year, these businesses have collapsed around Heller, and creditors have come knocking.

A judge has ruled that Heller owes investors in his ATM network business $138 million. Lenders have sued him for millions more.

He is also the guarantor in a Michigan-based marijuana business that owes $51 million to a bank. Heller is in personal bankruptcy in New Jersey, and one of his companies, Blackford ATM Ventures, was forced into bankruptcy in Delaware.

Other actions

This isn’t the first lawsuit to include Heller’s family. A January lawsuit from Deerfield Capital LLC states that Heller owes the lender $8.7 million after failing to pay back a short-term, high-interest loan. The lawsuit notes that, in January 2024, Heller purchased an “improved property” in Lancaster County for $439,000, documents state. In July, Heller sold that property to his son Ethan for $1.

Real estate records show that in July Heller transferred ownership of a three-story Lancaster city row home at 330 N. Lime St. to his son for that amount. “Such a transfer while Heller was insolvent was an actual or constructive fraud on creditors,” Deerfield Capital’s brief states.

Deerfield attorney Al Ciardi said he’s not surprised to see another lawsuit targeting Heller’s family and associates.

“I think if anybody knows anything, it’s his former business partners. We’re looking in from the outside. I have no idea what those guys know.”

Ciardi pointed out that a meeting of the creditors is scheduled in New Jersey bankruptcy court for Monday, which should shed light on any people or companies that received money from Heller.

“We don’t have the answer to that yet,” Ciardi said. “On Monday we intend to delve into that as much as we can.”

This reporter’s work is funded by the Lancaster County Local Journalism Fund. For more information, or to make a contribution, please visit lanc.news/supportlocaljournalism.