A judge ruled against two private equity firms and April Anthony, the former founder of Encompass Health, for "egregious breaches" of fiduciary duty.
Anthony's bio states she was a CPA with Pricewaterhouse Coopers so she clearly knew about the highest of fiduciary duties.
April's partners in crime included private equity underwriters (PEU) Vistria Group and Nautic Partners. Vistria was founded by Obama buddy Marty Nesbitt. Nautic Partners was founded as Fleet Equity Partners in 1986 but became an independent private equity firm in 2000. The Blackstone Group acquired a minority stake in Nautic Partners in 2021.
At issue were the harms Anthony and her co-conspirators inflicted on her former company Encompass in their "building" of VitalCaring.
At first she tried to buy the company (Encompass), in secret partnership with Nautic and Vistria, and then later chose to form a new, competitive company (VitalCaring) with her new PE partners.D reported Encompass employees (working with April on the new venture):
...referred to Anthony as “the person that she shall not name“ and “Voldermort” to avoid using Anthony’s name in messages. The document said that when she retired on Good Friday in 2021, she compared her return to the home health business to Christ’s resurrection after his death on Good Friday.A Forbes article on how Anthony built her fortune began with:
"I spend my drive to the office praying."
Anthony served on the board of Trustees of Abilene Christian University as well as First Financial Bankshares. Her FFB board bio states:
April Anthony, Dallas, Texas, has served as a director of the Company since 2014. She serves on the Audit Committee and is designated as a “financial expert”. She is also a director of First Financial Bank, N.A., Abilene (the “Bank”), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company and of First Technology Services, Inc. (the “Technology Company”), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Bank. She is chief executive officer of Encompass Home Health and Hospice, which she founded in 1998, and Homecare Homebase. Encompass Home Health and Hospice was named as one of the fastest growing companies in America and boasts national leading scores in clinical quality outcomes and patient satisfaction. It provides home care and hospice services to over 33,000 patients per day through a network of over 220 offices in 25 states. Homecare Homebase provides leading homecare software technology to over 175 homecare providers across the United States, representing 20% of homecare and hospice services in the nation. She is a graduate of Abilene Christian University and is a certified public accountant. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of Abilene Christian University, serving for 16 years. She is also the founder and a director of Encompass Cares Foundation, a nonprofit foundation formed to support domestic and international medical mission efforts and over the past five years has provided over $2 million in mission grants. Her experience and qualifications provide sound leadership to the board of Directors. In addition, as a certified public accountant, Ms. Anthony brings strong accounting, management, strategic planning, technology and financial skills important to the oversight of our financial reporting, enterprise and operational risk management.Somehow all that knowledge, money and faith did not prevent April Anthony from acting unethically in the pursuit of even more money than the $740 million she had accumulated as of 2023.
Disgorgement is coming after decades of engorgement. It can't happen fast enough.
Does anyone else smell a pardon coming? Prayers for massive profits and surprise pardons are the order of the day.
Politicians Red and Blue love PEU and increasingly, more are one.
