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The Pleasants Power Station in Pleasants County is pictured in this undated photo.
Omnis Fuel Technologies | Courtesy photo
An energy company whose ex-leader in 2023 told West Virginia officials it was poised to generate a type of industrial material that could “give rise to a complete change of society†has filed a bankruptcy petition two years after the state finished disbursing $50 million to it via a forgivable loan.
But not before the company accumulated hundreds of creditors, including 70 across West Virginia, according to its filing.
Omnis Pleasants LLC filed a bankruptcy petition in federal court on July 27, burdened by more than $70 million in debt obligations, including a $50.9 million unsecured loan obligation to the West Virginia Economic Development Authority, which approved the $50 million loan for Omnis affiliate Quantum Pleasants LLC in 2023 to support its not-achieved conversion of the coal-fired Pleasants Power Station in Pleasants County into a hydrogen production facility with unproven technology.
That technology proposal triggered skepticism from energy experts upon Omnis' takeover of the plant.
It was at an August 2023 West Virginia Public Energy Authority meeting that Omnis Pleasants affiliate Omnis Energy founder Simon Hodson promised the now 47-year-old, 1,278-megawatt plant would prove to be a prime example of what he called the “new hydrogen economy.â€
“We believe that the Pleasants Power Station is going to show that we can not only generate electricity, but we can now generate a source of another industrial material that can give rise to a complete change of society,†Hodson said.
But Hodson was removed as Omnis Pleasants chairman and CEO in February 2026 per a forbearance agreement amid mounting financial and operational issues, David Hindman, self-identifying as the company’s new CEO, stated in a written federal court declaration filed July 27.
Hindman says Hodson and other former company insiders focused on speculative ventures while depriving the plant of capital and exposing it to substantial regulatory problems.
Hindman said in his declaration that the plant “suffered from severe financial and operational distress as the result of gross misconduct by prior management†under Hodson.
Hindman reported that a probe from current management has revealed evidence of self-dealing, suspect related-party transactions, misuse of lender and investor funds, diversion of corporate funds to insider-controlled entities “and other conduct that may give rise to significant estate causes of action.â€
It’s a similar claim to one made in a separate, pending federal lawsuit asserting that Hodson misrepresented the value of and backing behind his business ventures leading up to the West Virginia Economic Development Authority’s November 2023 approval of a $50 million forgivable loan for Omnis affiliate Quantum Pleasants LLC to support its not-achieved conversion of the coal-fired Pleasants Power Station into a hydrogen production facility with unproven technology.
That case filed in March 2024 by Michelle Christian of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, says Omnis companies — while under Hodson’s control — committed sex and religious discrimination against her in violation of federal law during her time as an executive in the Omnis fold and never paid her a nondiscretionary $215,512 bonus it had promised upon receipt of $10 million or more in outside funding.
West Virginia Economic Development Authority spokesperson Andy Malinoski has declined to comment.
But the plant is stuck in legal leadership limbo, with Hindman indicating that former Pleasants “insiders†are trying to “sideline current management†by litigation in West Virginia state court aiming to undo previous governance protections, threatening plant staff and Pleasants management to “bring use of force†to gain plant entry and trying to implement transactions that would undermine the plant’s ability to operate and potentially divert “substantial value†to Hodson’s Omnis firms.
Hindman said the Omnis parties maintain that Charles Gassheimer has assumed control of Pleasants as a director.
In a declaration filed with the bankruptcy court Wednesday, Gassheimer identified himself as having served as Omnis Energy president since July 2025 and been appointed interim director of Omnis Pleasants on July 20 after Quantum Pleasants as sole equity owner of Omnis Pleasants removed Nathan as the latter’s independent manager.
Gassheimer asserted that the independent manager structure ceases under the February 2026 forbearance agreement upon full payment of obligations and reported that Dynamic Finance Corp. delivered a $75.64 million check to fulfill all obligations under loan documents — financing that he said was a loan to Omnis Energy that doesn’t sell or transfer the Pleasants plant.
Gassheimer conceded the forbearance agreement granted the independent manager broad approval rights over sale or disposal of assets and the filing of bankruptcy proceedings and could be removed only with joint written consent of Omnis Energy and Omnis Pleasants’ lenders TRAG LLC and RG Energy LLC, but only until Omnis Energy paid in full.
Hindman told the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware that Omnis Pleasants filed the petition for relief under Chapter 11 of federal bankruptcy code to “facilitate restructuring negotiations between stakeholders and to support a sale process†while its leadership and staff work to improve the performance of the power plant that provides capacity to the regional power market and employed 136 people as of July 27, per the filing.
Under Chapter 11 bankruptcies, businesses generally restructure but continue to do business supervised by a court-appointed trustee to reorganize their operations.
The court on Wednesday set a Sept. 3 hearing date to consider final approval of orders allowing critical operations to continue, like employee wage and utility payments.
Pleasants said in a Monday statement that it anticipates an independent third party will buy the plant near Willow Island along the Ohio River and ensure its continued operation.
Omnis Pleasants reports over 600 creditors, 70 in W.Va.
The bankruptcy petition filed by Pleasants Monday indicates funds will be available for distribution to unsecured creditors, with the company having between $50 million and $100 million in estimated assets and liabilities each.
The Economic Development Authority is by far Pleasants’ largest unsecured creditor with its $50,893,000 loan.
The EDA in November 2023 awarded a $50 million forgivable loan with a 30-month term at a 1% interest rate to Omnis affiliate Quantum Pleasants for Pleasants Power Station expansion and retrofitting.
The loan matured on June 15 of this year. It remains unpaid and is in default, according to Hindman’s declaration.
The next-highest debts are $20 million owed to New Castle, Delaware-based data center and digital infrastructure developer Bilt Technology LLC for unsecured notes and $600,000 to Richmond, Kentucky-based BlueTerra Innovations LLC for professional services, per the petition.
The petition lists seven other unsecured creditors based in West Virginia:
New Martinsville-based Litman Excavating, Inc. (operational vendor, $287,145)
Parkersburg-based United Construction Co., Inc. (operational vendor, $151,796)
New Cumberland-based Energy Piping WV LLC (operational vendor, $21,886)
A separately filed creditor matrix signed by Hindman and filed with the court Wednesday includes the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection Division of Air Quality, the West Virginia Division of Highways, West Virginia Office of the Attorney General, West Virginia State Tax Department, West Virginia University and U.S. Department of Justice as creditors with unspecified debt amounts.
But the creditor matrix goes far deeper, listing 70 creditors based in West Virginia out of just shy of 600 total, all with unspecified debt amounts in the matrix.
Other area creditors listed include:
All Crane & Equipment Rental Corp., based in Nitro
American Babbitt Bearing Inc., based in Huntington
American Equipment Holdings LLC, care of Kanawha Scales & Systems LLC, based in Poca
Cavcon Inc., based in ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä
Chemac Co., based in South ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä
Gorman Sheatsley & Co., based in Beckley
Hotsy Equipment Co., based in ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä
Jabo Supply Corp., based in Huntington
Jackson Kelly PLLC, based in ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä
Kanawha Trucking Inc., based in Summersville
Potesta & Associates, Inc., based in ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä
Precision Pump & Valve Service, based in Cross Lanes
Preiser Scientific, based in St. Albans
Valtronics Sales Inc., based in Ravenswood
Beyond southern West Virginia, other listed creditors include the Belmont and St. Marys volunteer fire departments in Pleasants County, the Pleasants County Sheriff and Pittsburgh-based Highmark West Virginia.
Filing: WVEDA disbursed full $50M by June 2024
Hindman told the Delaware Bankruptcy Court Pleasants has recently found evidence that funds raised by prior management, apparently for hydrogen production technology development and company operations, were diverted to benefit Hodson, other insiders and their affiliates.
Hindman reported that the Economic Development Authority by June 2024 disbursed the full $50 million it had set as its maximum loan amount for Quantum Pleasants, believing that Quantum had made matching expenditures. But almost all the authority’s funding was obtained through a scheme involving circular fund transfers, related party transactions and suspect invoices being investigated, Hindman said.
Preliminary findings by Pleasants under Hindman indicate funds were transferred from Omnis Energy to the Hodson-controlled StarSource LLC and then returned to Omnis Energy before being retransferred to StarSource and back to Omnis Energy, with only the outbound transfers presented to the Economic Development Authority and the West Virginia State Auditor’s Office as purported hydrogen production project expenses, Hindman said.
Pleasants now believes prior management presented the transactions to create the appearance of qualifying matching expenses needed to support further Economic Development Authority disbursement requests, Hindman’s declaration states.
Pleasants has identified over $114 million in suspicious invoices issued by Industrial Accessories Company, including four invoices totaling roughly $100.6 million that were submitted to the state to support matching-fund requests under the Economic Development Authority loan, according to the declaration, which noted that although those invoices include statements that Industrial Accessories Company received advance payment of $50 million from Quantum, Pleasants has found less than approximately $4.2 million in actual payments.
Approximately $39.6 million of Economic Development Authority-disbursed funds were transferred directly to Industrial Accessories Company accounts, and neither Industrial Accessories Company nor prior management has “provided a meaningful accounting of these funds,†Hindman’s declaration states.
The Economic Development Authority declared defaults under applicable loan documents in July 2025, including for alleged misuse of loan proceeds, and advised Pleasants after the June 2026 maturity of its loan without repayment that it won’t accept any “consensual resolution†that places former management back in control of the plant, according to the declaration.
New company leaders chart 'path forward'
A slideshow presentation published by Irvine, California-based corporate restructuring and debt resolution advisory firm Stretto, the claims agent taking on the case, charts a “path forward†under Hindman's leadership that includes:
Filing and seeking approval of bidding procedures by Wednesday
Continuing engaging with potential strategic buyers to identify a stalking-horse bidder — a purchaser selected to make an initial offer for assets of a bankrupt company, establishing a minimum price floor for a bankruptcy auction
Retaining a qualified investment banker
Conducting an auction, if needed, and seek approval of a going concern sale — a sale of all the assets and properties of a company
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