A judge has reinstalled the president of a Golden construction company who says he was ousted in a corporate coup this spring, but ordered him to return $2 million in silver.
Lance Latimer is a 50% owner of Alpine Civil Construction, which has about 400 employees. He has been feuding in court with the company’s other 50% owner, Matthew Varholdt.
“Each accuses the other of financial misdeeds,” noted Judge Christopher Rhamey.
In April, Varholdt replaced Alpine’s two-person board of directors (himself and Latimer) with a seven-person board consisting of himself and six employees. That board then unanimously voted to fire Latimer for allegedly spending millions in company money on himself.
“Varholdt acknowledged the illogic that he or Latimer could have acted unilaterally to terminate and remove the other,” Rhamey wrote Sept. 10, referring to August testimony from Varholdt.
The judge determined that Varholdt has failed to prove that Latimer used company funds rather than his own money on a $1.1 million house in the small Montezuma County town of Mancos, a $229,000 RV, divorce payments, chartered flights and hotels, and cryptocurrencies.
“Lance Latimer shall be restored to all access and rights to the management and ownership of Alpine Civil as a 50% owner, director, president and secretary/treasurer,” Rhamey ruled.
In an unusual arrangement, Varholdt and Latimer decided in 2021 to have Alpine buy 59,000 ounces — nearly two tons — of silver, which is worth roughly $4 million today. Varholdt has accused Latimer of stealing half of that, along with an Alpine skid steer and a generator.
So, Rhamey ordered Latimer to return those to the company. All 59,000 ounces of silver will be placed in a bank safety deposit box under Alpine’s name, according to the judge’s order.
Lawyers for Varholdt and Latimer declined to discuss that order. They are Joe Daniels of the Taft law firm for Latimer and Tony Derwinski of Ruegsegger Simons & Stern for Varholdt.
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