A federal bankruptcy court has approved the $6.8 million loan Wohali needs to restructure ahead of a March 2026 bankruptcy auction.
Numerous parties had been fighting to be the lender so they could be first in line to get repaid by the bankrupt Coalville golf resort.
The winner the court picked Jan. 23 is the original primary lender, a group of foreign creditors who financed Wohali through the federal EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program.
EB5 representatives say the 99 investors they represent are owed a total of $86 million and believe their efforts to get the money back caused Wohali’s founders to declare Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August.
The terms of EB5’s new loan include scheduling a March 2026 bankruptcy auction. According to Judge Peggy Hunt’s ruling, the resort and golf course are valued anywhere from $50 million to $150 million.
EB5 is still first in line to reap proceeds from the sale. But, it has a new challenger: the original owners of Wohali’s land.
After EB5 asked bankruptcy court to cement its first-priority claim to Wohali Dec. 12, Boyden Farms did the same Jan. 15.
Boyden Farms claims to be the original owner of more than 3,000 acres of the 5,000-acre resort area.
It is managed by Steve Boyden, the father of one of Wohali’s three embattled founders: David Boyden.
Boyden Farms’ separate civil suit alleges that Steve Boyden was duped into giving away the primary claim to the property to EB5 in 2022.
The filing states David Boyden had his father sign documents he received from another founder, Thomas Cottone, claiming they were related to Wohali’s internal organization.
But Steve Boyden alleges he was in fact forfeiting his interest in the property, receiving nothing in return for signing the documents.
Court papers say he didn’t realize what he’d done until three years later in December 2025. Boyden Farms blames both Wohali’s founders and EB5 for not explaining the significance of the documents Steve Boyden signed.
The group is asking Utah’s bankruptcy court to void those documents and reassert the Boyden family’s interest in Wohali’s land, over and above the foreign investors’ interest.
Neither Wohali nor EB5 have responded to the new filings yet.
The litigation is separate from the main bankruptcy case, in which Boyden Farms says Wohali owes it about $7.6 million.
