An island in the Bahamas? Brandon Chasen grilled at his final bankruptcy hearing

Dressed in a gray blazer, dark cargo pants and a pair of Nike Air Jordan sneakers, Brandon Chasen, once a darling of the Baltimore real estate world known for his lavish lifestyle, endured more than four hours of questioning Tuesday in the final meeting of creditors in his personal bankruptcy case.

Minneapolis attorney Michael Collyard grilled the 40-year-old developer. He combed through the wreckage of Chasen’s real estate empire, ranging from his relationship with his business partner and longtime friend, Paul Davis, to their short-lived plan to buy an island in the Bahamas.

Bankruptcy trustees hired Collyard, whose firm describes him on its website as a tenacious lawyer handling “complex multibillion- and multimillion-dollar cases” in areas including fraud, intellectual property and Ponzi schemes.

Trustees are appointed by judges in bankruptcy cases and their responsibilities often include identifying, investigating and recovering assets.

Collyard asked Chasen when he last spoke with Davis, whom he met while attending the prestigious Bullis School in Potomac.

Chasen replied that it had been about six months.

“I mean, I’d love to give him a big hug if I saw him today,” Chasen testified. “We are both going through traumatic, life-changing events.”

The friendship “fizzled out,” he said. The two had tough conversations about the fate of the business but did not blame each other for what happened.

Chasen said he could “sit here and probably Monday morning quarterback the last seven years.”

When Collyard asked Chasen for an example of what he would have done differently, he replied that he would have locked in fixed-rate loans for construction.

Chasen Cos. once purportedly owned about 2,000 residential units. That included about 200 in Florida and Virginia.

The business flirted with a national expansion plan during what Chasen described in his testimony as the “good times.” The firm was nationally recognized as one of the country’s fastest-growing companies, and Chasen received awards and attention for his entrepreneurship.

Then everything unraveled.

Three creditors in 2025 successfully petitioned a judge to force Chasen Construction LLC into Chapter 11 reorganization bankruptcy after the company defaulted on a bank loan. A few months later, facing mounting legal pressures, Chasen agreed to enter Chapter 7 liquidation bankruptcy.

Adam Freiman, Chasen’s attorney, previously said the collapse was not a result of any financial impropriety but instead stressors outside the company’s control.

On Tuesday, Collyard pressed Chasen on his relationships with other businessmen. Chasen said he played golf and took trips with the managing director of a real estate brokerage and socialized with an executive at a bank. Both of those firms also did business with Chasen Cos.

The hearing lacked much of the drama of the previous court proceedings, which often centered on the details of Chasen’s spending habits.

A $49,000-per-week stay at a ski resort in the French Alps. A more than $150,000 purchase at an art gallery in San Francisco. A private boat driver referred to only as “Capt. Jacques.”

But there were a few of those moments.

At one point, Chasen testified that he and his associates once looked into buying an island in the Bahamas during the company’s heyday. But it was too expensive: $15 to $18 million for land worth only a fraction of the price.

Later, bankruptcy trustee Roger Schlossberg asked Chasen, “Brandon, where’s Hannah Love these days?”

Schlossberg was referring to the social media moniker of Chasen’s girlfriend, whom he previously testified runs a health-and-wellness business.

Chasen did not directly answer the question about his girlfriend’s whereabouts, though he later said he would try to act as a mediator.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Nancy Alquist signed an order allowing the bankruptcy trustees to request documents from the girlfriend’s venture, Love’s Exotics, and ask questions under oath. Court records show Chasen Construction in 2024 wired $200,000 into the firm’s account.

Schlossberg told Chasen that he had a subpoena for her.

“Delay is not in anyone’s best interest,” Schlossberg said. “Certainly not yours.”