Golden Finance reported that Banq, which filed for bankruptcy last year, had its application dismissed by a U.S. judge who believed that the application was intended to protect the company and its executives from ongoing lawsuits by creditors. Banq and its chairman Jon Jiles were sued by creditor N9, accusing Jiles of failing to fulfill his fiduciary duties. Judge Natalie M. Cox, who heard the case, called the bank's bankruptcy filing a "bad faith" strategy aimed at "gaining an advantage in pending litigation" rather than reorganization. Judge Cox wrote in his ruling that the bankruptcy proceeding was a strategy to protect Banq and its founder Jon Jiles from investor lawsuits initiated by N9, the company's main creditor with a $3 million stake. N9 accused Jiles of failing to fulfill his fiduciary duties and putting the interests of Prime Trust (of which he was the founder and managing member) above the interests of Banq.