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BELLA ROSA: Growers to document claims before paymentContinued from Clallowed to question claims that it disputed, which then would have to be resolved by the bankruptcy court.The agreement also allows Eureka to challenge payment of any claims submitted by Tex-Cal I .and Inc., Dudley M. Bud” Steele Jr., Carl Steven Steele, or any entities affiliated with them.Payments are to be made to growers within 30 days or within 30 days of documenting their claims to the satisfaction of Eureka.Bella Rosa is part of the heavily indebted agribusiness empire assembled by Bud Steele. Steele is president of Tex-Cal Land Inc., which has a Chapter 11 proceeding under way in Houston, Texas.Creditors claim that between Tex-Cal Land and Bella Rosa the companies owe more than $100 million, although the two firms dispute the amounts. Tex-Cal Land is attempting to secure financing to continue fanning about 7,000 acres of grapes, almonds, prunes and cotton in Kern and Tulare counties.Ownership of the two companies is open to some question. Steele, the president of Tex-Cal Land, testified in mid-1983 that the company is owned by a former brother-in-law who lives in Texas. But in the Houston bankruptcy proceeding, Steele now claims to be the sole owner of Tex-Cal I^and.Bella Rosa was acquired in 1983 by Tex-Cal Land. But in February, Bud Steele’s nephew, Carl Steven Steele, told a bankruptcy court creditors rneetine oath, thathe had purchased the winery’s stock for $500. Documents filed with the bankruptcy case in December also credited the younger Steele with ownership.Tex-Cal Land is now claiming it owns Bella Rosa. Asked for an explanation, Tex-Cal Land spokesman Elias Munoz said Friday that the sale to Carl Steven Steele never took place.“It is my understanding that at that time there was a contemplation of the sale of the stock to Steve Steele,” Munoz said. “That (sale) never happened.”Two separate federal investigations, criminal and civil, are attempting to unravel the tangled web of the Steele empire. The federal interest is the result of a massive debt of more than $691 riu;~r ^atthe U.S. Farmers Home Administration claims it is owed on loans made to a third company, Tex-Cal I .and Management Inc., also of Delano. That company borrowed more than $51 million from FmHA from 1979-1983.Bud Steele claims that company was owned and operated by his son, Dudley R. “Randy” Steele, and that neither he nor Tex-Cal I^and are responsible for repaying the FmHA.Tex-Cal Land and Bella Rosa are also involved in a dispute with the U.S. Department of Labor for allegedly falling to pay farm workers’ wages. The government claims the companies failed to honor an agreement to pay $44,000 in back wages, while Tex-Cal and Bella Rosa claim there was no agreement.
Newspaper Details
Bakersfield Californian
Bakersfield, California, US
Sat, Apr 19, 1986
Page 16
Full Page
Clipped by
Kimberly S.
USA 05 Jun 2025
Other Publications Near Bakersfield, California
The Berkshire County Eagle
Southern Californian and Kern Weekly Courier
The Weekly Californian
Kern County Californian
Daily Californian
