Unsecured creditors get in line at Kodak

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ROCHESTER, N.Y., July 3 (UPI) -- Current and former Eastman Kodak Co. executives have gotten in line to collect claims from the bankrupt New York firm, court papers say.

Most of those claims have to do with two supplemental pension plans, the Kodak Excess Retirement Income Plan and the Kodak Unfunded Retirement Income Plan, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reported Tuesday.

Those plans were set up for top tier executives, who were told in January, when the company filed for bankruptcy, that they were eligible to file claims as unsecured creditors, the newspaper said.

Standing in line are Chief Executive Officer Antonio Perez, who filed three claims totaling of $18.8 million.

Kodak's co-President Philip Faraci filed claims for more than $3 million. Retired executives Edgar Greco and Robert LaPerle, have each filed claims for $1.2 million.

LaPerle worked at Kodak for 32 years, the newspaper reported.

The line of unsecured creditors is fairly long -- 3,300 and counting. The deadline for filing a claim is July 17.

Among the unsecured creditors is AOF Imaging Technology Ltd. of Hong Kong, which says it is owed $50 million.

Rochester Gas & Electric has filed a claim for $1 million, while sheet metal firm AJL Manufacturing has filed a claim for $588,000.

An unsecured creditor differs from a secured creditor -- generally a bank -- in that secured creditors can claim ownership of company assets if loans are not paid. Essentially, the assets that are seized by secured creditors are items that were put up for collateral when the loan was initiated.