07 B 21123, 08 A 00180

This is an amended opinion; the original opinion was signed on March 17, 2010. This case involved a preference action under 11 U.S.C. sec. 547 to recover three payments made to the Defendants during the pre-petition preference period. The court found that the Debtor met its burden under 11 U.S.C. sec. 547 and proved by a preponderance of the evidence that the payments at issue were in fact preferential. The Defendants set forth twelve affirmative defenses, most notably the ordinary course of business defense. The court determined that the Defendants failed to meet their burden with regard to any of the affirmative defenses. The court found that the Defendants' ordinary course of business defense failed because the fraud that the Debtor's officers engaged in pre-petition and during the preference period could not serve as an exception to preference liability because ordinary businesses do not defraud their customers and lenders.