State docs confirm Frantz role in ABC Wausau Properties

By Shereen Siewert

State documents obtained by Wausau Pilot and Review confirm former Riverlife developer Mike Frantz is the sole organizer of the limited liability company that purchased prime downtown property in May, an asset that does not appear on his roughly $40 million bankruptcy filing.

Marathon County land records show Frantz purchased the property that now houses ABC Supply Co. for roughly $2.3 million in May, five weeks after filing for bankruptcy protection in which he reported being more than $40 million in debt. Marathon County documents show the ABC Supply Co. property, at 102 Fulton St., changed hands May 14 from Hendricks Commercial Properties to ABC Wausau LLC with a purchase price of $2,283,000.

Wausau Pilot and Review broke this story Aug. 5 after examining an array of public documents that detailed the sale, after which WSAW subsequently reported a story of its own. Then on Wednesday, Frantz issued a statement to WSAW denying ownership of the property.

“I absolutely do not own any of ABC Wausau Properties LLC,” Frantz was quoted as saying in the WSAW report. “I just helped them put together the deal.”

But articles of organization with the state Department of Financial Institutions filed Aug. 23, 2018, list Frantz as both the registered agent and the sole organizer of ABC Wausau Properties LLC. Wausau Pilot and Review requested the documents on Aug. 5 and received a certified copy on Monday.

Neither the LLC nor the property Frantz acquired is listed on bankruptcy documents filed in June, well after the purchase was finalized.

Federal officials are already accusing Frantz of lying under oath about his assets during bankruptcy proceedings and on July 22 filed a complaint denying a discharge of Frantz’s debt. Court documents cite multiple false statements that suggest Frantz “knowingly and intentionally made false oaths on his bankruptcy schedules.”

“The Defendant twice amended his schedules,” federal documents allege. “Yet, he still failed to include all of his assets.”

Mike Frantz was part of the original development team for Wausau’s Riverlife Villages development, which included about $2.74 million in taxpayer-funded incentives. He remained a principal figure in the development until last spring and filed for bankruptcy on April 9.