BANGOR (AP) – Former Great Northern Paper Inc. owner Lambert Bedard altered the company’s federal tax returns in violation of a bankruptcy judge’s order to have a $4.2 million refund sent to his lawyer’s office instead of Great Northern’s bankrupt estate.

By changing the return address on the tax forms, Bedard wanted the money to be handed over to himself as co-owner of Inexcon Maine, which was Great Northern’s parent company, according to Portland lawyer Daniel Amory.

Amory, who represents the estate’s trustee, Bangor lawyer Gary Growe, told the Bangor Daily News that Bedard crossed out the trustee’s name and address on tax returns and added the name Inexcon Maine along with the lawyer’s mailing address. The returns were mailed to the Internal Revenue Service last month.

“Upon information and belief, Bedard and Inexcon Maine altered the address with the specific intent of converting the refund to Inexcon Maine’s own use, to the exclusion of the estate,” Amory wrote in court documents.

The trustee is suing Bedard in U.S. District Court for alleged mismanagement of Great Northern. That lawsuit is pending.

On Monday, at an emergency hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Amory sought contempt charges and sanctions against Bedard for not abiding by a federal bankruptcy judge’s March order to have all of Great Northern’s tax refunds sent to the trustee.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Louis H. Kornreich, however, gave Bedard another chance to comply with his instructions regarding Great Northern tax matters. He told Bedard he must forward the entire refund and all correspondence from the IRS or Maine Revenue Services to the trustee.

Bedard, through negotiations with the trustee, wanted 8 percent of the refund given to him because Inexcon Maine paid a portion of Great Northern’s taxes, according to court documents.

Bedard’s lawyer, Nicholas Walsh of Portland, said Wednesday there was no question there was a violation by Bedard of Kornreich’s March order to not alter the tax returns. He said Bedard intends to comply with the judge’s new set of instructions issued this week.

AP-ES-04-08-04 1534EDT