Documents filed as part of a court case aimed at recovering more than $125,000 in business loans to failed Biddeford restaurateurs Harold Royals and Peter Powers allege that they spent thousands of dollars on personal expenses, including a $10,000 check made out to Powers’ mother.

The court action, known as an “ex parte motion for attachment and trustee process,” was filed Feb. 12 in Cumberland County Superior Court by the Biddeford-Saco Area Economic Development Corp. The quasi-governmental agency, which is partly funded by Biddeford and Saco, seeks to recover more than $125,000 for three loans it issued to Royals in October 2015 to finance the opening of a Biddeford restaurant that was to be called Steer N Stein Pub & Grill. The restaurant never opened, and Royals never made his loan payments, according to the case.

Included in the filing are copies of several bank statements for Burger, Beef and Brews LLC, the Saco-based parent company of Steer N Stein. The statements indicate that the company depleted its entire bank account of more than $121,000 via hundreds of withdrawals between Oct. 6 and Feb. 8.

The withdrawals listed are for a wide variety of purchases such as groceries, restaurant meals, gasoline, eye care and even dog washing at You Dirty Dog in South Portland.

“During this time frame, more than $14,000 was spent on meals at local restaurants,” the court filing states. “Run of the Mill and Portland Pie Company, for example, regularly appear on the company’s bank statements.”

The bank records also indicate that Royals and Powers used loan proceeds to pay $700 to Lenscrafters and nearly $750 to Frank Galos Chevrolet, the court filing states.

Royals hasn’t responded to repeated requests by the Portland Press Herald for an interview. He didn’t return calls to his cellphone Wednesday afternoon.

In addition to the withdrawals for purchases, the bank statements filed in court also include copies of checks written against the Burger, Beef and Brews account. The largest of those was made out to Marie C. Powers, whom the filing describes as the mother of Peter Powers. She also is listed as a defendant, along with Kelly E. Lancaster, who is described as Powers’ sister.

“Recently, Harold Royals told the (Biddeford-Saco) development corporation that there was not enough money to finish the leasehold improvements and open the restaurant,” the court document states. “Royals explained there were cost overruns and a delay because of the landlord, but never mentioned how thousands of dollars were spent on personal expenses such as meals for himself and Peter Powers. Royals never mentioned the $10,000 payment to Marie Powers now in the possession of Kelly Lancaster.”

Finally, the court filing alleges that on Feb. 8, Royals emptied the business account of its final $2,900 by writing a check to himself.

Adam Shub, a Portland attorney representing the economic development group, indicated via email Wednesday that the group has recovered the $10,000 given to Powers’ family members, but none of the other funds.

In 2014, Powers was sued by the city of Gardiner for failure to repay a $40,000 loan issued by the city for a different restaurant he owned with Royals. That restaurant, called Alex Parker’s Steak House, opened in December 2012 and shut down in November 2014.

Shub has defended the Biddeford-Saco Area Economic Development Corp.’s decision to issue three subsequent loans to Royals by saying that he was not a named defendant in the Gardiner lawsuit.

J. Craig Anderson can be contacted at 791-6390 or at:

canderson@pressherald.com

Twitter: jcraiganderson