Nov. 13 (Bloomberg) -- SemGroup LP, the bankrupt energy- storage business, bought oil, art and non-fattening meals from companies in which fired Chief Executive Officer Thomas Kivisto had a stake, court records show.

Kivisto, who co-founded SemGroup in 2000, had interests in at least 15 companies, including art galleries and a catering firm, Lean Gourmet LLC, that did business with SemGroup, according to court documents. He also supplied the firm with oil through his Westback Purchasing Co. Westback got $309 million from SemGroup to cover margin payments in the 12 months before the company collapsed in July, according to court papers.

``Kivisto's interest in any company that did business with SemGroup was fully disclosed,'' said John Tucker, a lawyer for the executive. ``He had a minor interest in Lean Gourmet.''

``Massive'' margin calls on trades in energy futures and options sank the Tulsa, Oklahoma-based company, which has assets of $7.66 billion, according to court papers. Former FBI Director Louis Freeh was appointed Oct. 14 to probe about $2.4 billion in losses at the energy company after creditors said SemGroup may have used unauthorized trading strategies.

Placed on leave after the bankruptcy and later fired, Kivisto received $42.5 million in salary, bonuses and awards in the year before the SemGroup's collapse, according to documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware.

SemGroup boasted a gym called SemFit and offered employees free breakfasts and discounted, low-calorie meal plans from Lean Gourmet, according to Oklahoma Magazine.

The company's bankruptcy left 33 charities without $800,000 in pledged funding, according to the Tulsa World. Kivisto owns two homes in Tulsa, a house on the waterfront in the Grand Lake district of Oklahoma, and galleries in Chicago, the Tulsa World said.

Response

Tucker filed papers last week asking a judge to bar SemGroup lawyers from questioning him because he had no access to his records and would be questioned again by creditors and the examiner. SemGroup had asked Kivisto to produce documents related to 16 companies he owned or had invested in, which received ``value'' from SemGroup. They included Westback, KMV Gallery & Exhibitions LP and Lean Gourmet.

Some of the companies had no transactions with SemGroup and others are no longer active, said Tucker, a lawyer with Tulsa- based Rhodes, Hieronymus, Jones, Tucker & Gable. SemGroup already has records of all transactions with Kivisto entities, he said.

In the energy sector, SemGroup's downfall eclipsed the collapse of hedge-fund manager Amaranth Advisors LLC of Greenwich, Connecticut, which folded under $6.6 billion of wrong- way natural-gas bets in 2006.

Class Actions

Investors have filed at least 10 purported class-action lawsuits against SemGroup's publicly traded offshoot, SemGroup Energy Partners LP, saying it issued stock in February without disclosing its parent's risky hedging strategies.

Carlyle Group, a Washington-based private-equity firm, owned 29.3 percent of SemGroup in a joint venture with Riverstone Holdings LLC, according to SemGroup Energy's annual report with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on March 6. Ritchie Capital Management LLC, a Lisle, Illinois-based hedge-fund firm, held 25.2 percent.

The bankruptcy case is In re SemCrude LP, 08-11525, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington).

To contact the reporter on this story: Linda Sandler in New York at lsandler@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 13, 2008 10:53 EST