I'm filling a lot of blanks here so someone please
Post# of 43064
So ten years ago PTOI founder Mr. Bordynuik purchased a bankrupt blending facility from his uncle for $150,000. More than certainly Mr. Bordynuik was generous with the price since it was his uncle and the money came from investors. A business which can't make money is worth land plus any scrap value.
Years later new CEO Mr. Heddle has some P2O 'fuel'. He would have sold the fuel if he could because cash is better than aging liquid but he couldn't. He noted that the blending facility had a one million liter tank so he puts the fuel there instead. The problem with a "fuel" that nobody wants to buy is that it is actually hazardous waste which might cost ($0.40/liter?? $0.50/liter??) to dispose.
Now with Mr. Heddle liquidating PTOI's assets, he finds he can't sell the blending facility because Canada, like U.S. States, most certainly has laws stating he has to disclose the tank full of waste. Anyone who buys it might have to pay up to $400k to dispose of the nondescript 'fuel' and be left with, optimistically, only a $150k piece of property. Mr. Heddle would have to pay someone to take the property.
So what's Mr. Heddle to do?? Well, property still can be used to secure a loan if a naive lender can be found and disclosure may not be needed for mere securitization. While it seems unlikely anyone will buy the property anyway, why not slap a $1,000,000 price tag on it and list it for sale to establish a reference value for any potential unwitting lender??
Then along comes PTOI director Mr. Brain, an investor who was duped into believing the PTOI story and, as far as anyone knows, still very much believes. Certainly this director wouldn't even think about getting a second opinion before lending money to PTOI, secured by the blending facility. So effectively, Mr. Heddle 'sold' the blending facility for $125k to Mr. Brain while Mr. Brain instead mistakenly believes he's going to get his loan repaid with 5% interest.