Boat-Company Wrecker Declares Personal Bankruptcy – Loose Cannon
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The guy who was the kiss of death for Catalina Yachts—now back in business—was a financial mess, according to his personal bankruptcy filing. Michael Alexander Reardon filed for Chapter 7 liquidation late last month, declaring $3.28 million in unsecured liabilities against assets worth $574,000. According to the September 30 petition, Reardon’s personal debt includes $866,953 in combined credit card and merchant cash advance (MCA) obligations, including related revenue-based financing and personal guarantees. MCA debt is an obligation a business incurs after receiving an upfront lump-sum cash advance in exchange for a percentage of future sales. Legally, an MCA is structured as a purchase of future receivables rather than a traditional loan. That structure allows MCAs to bypass conventional banking regulations and state usury laws. The largest individual creditor on the list is Catalina Yachts Inc., with a claim of $1.78 million representing about 54 percent of all reported unsecured debt. In April 2025 Reardon entered into a purchase agreement with the California parent company of Catalina Yachts in Largo Florida which required him to make regular payments. In July, a state court in Pinellas County Florida awarded that amount to California Catalina in what was framed as a landlord-tenant lawsuit. Defendant Reardon was a no-show. Reardon reported 100 percent ownership interests in five boatbuilding entities, each assigned a value of zero dollars in his personal bankruptcy schedules. Besides Catalina, the most familiar of these was Tartan Yachts, which Reardon acquired in September 2025. The factory reportedly had to shut down for a brief period. In January, after Reardon had presided over the demise of Catalina, the owner of Tartan’s rigging partner, Great Lakes Rigging and Supply, came to the rescue and acquired Tartan, which continues to build boats at its Ohio factory. The remaining three entitities center around Group Holdings, which spent a few years building a single carbon fiber at a factory in Edenton, North Carolina. Daedalus shut down operations in August 2025, as Reardon’s business partner and buyer for the only boat ever begun, had the unfinished hull shipped to Europe for completion and put the factory building up for sale.
Reardon also reported a declining income as the above events were transpiring—$186,000 in 2024, $124,000 in 2025 and $74,000 so far this year. Reardon’s petition listed two personal boats as assets and priced for liquidation. One is Little One, a 1969 Chesapeake Bay wooden crabber valued at $2,500. The other is a 1966 83-foot steel boat designed by Goudy & Stevens and valued at $7,000. He is listed as owing $8,000 to Edenton Marina. Reardon also owes more than $15,000 to a couple who worked for him at Catalina. David and Madeline Cayce had obtained a court judgement against him for unpaid wages with the help of the Pinellas County Office of Human Rights. |
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