Angry KY homeowners confront Lexington Blue roofing owner in court
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Homeowners accuse Brad Pagel of taking payments and failing to deliver roofing work.
- Lexington Blue faces over $1.6 million in uncompleted contracts amid bankruptcy.
- Pagel denies wrongdoing, cites poor oversight, and deflects financial accountability.
Homeowners who say they were ripped off by failed roofing company Lexington Blue had the chance to confront owner Brad Pagel on Monday, and they did not mince words.
“I plan to be your worst personal nightmare,” homeowner Judah Noe told Pagel in a meeting with creditors at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court downtown Lexington, where Pagel was accompanied by his attorney, Adrienne Southworth, a former Kentucky state senator.
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Noe accused Pagel of taking thousands of dollars for roofing repairs, then failing to complete the work. She said the homeowners want their money back and won’t walk away. “I’m not going down without a fight,” she said, receiving a smattering of applause from other creditors in the room.
“You stole. In my opinion, you are a thief,” Rene Hankey, of Midway, told Pagel. “You took my money with absolutely nothing done.”
Pagel said he hopes to get everyone made whole. “I’m just asking for patience,” he said.
Lexington Blue closed in April amid an investigation by Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman’s office and filed for Chapter 11 or reorganizational bankruptcy in June. Several customers told the Herald-Leader they’d hired the company to do work that was never completed, and former employees said Pagel ran the company as a “cult” of fraud and intimidation.
Attorney J. Christian Dennery, who represents Lexington Blue, has floated a plan that would “bundle” unfinished roofing contracts and try to find willing contractors to finish the jobs. According to the company, there are more than 260 contracts worth more than $1.6 million that remain to be completed.
The U.S. Trustee’s office has opposed that plan, and at an Aug. 21 hearing will argue the bankruptcy should be converted to Chapter 7, used when a business is closing, to give the trustee more power to go after potential assets, including Pagel’s.
Monday’s creditors’ meeting marked the first time homeowners confronted Pagel in court.
One man, Tim Buckingham, of Lexington, said he paid the full price upfront for his roof and doesn’t see how the Chapter 7 plan could work.
“I kinda want to come across the table and kick your ass,” he told Pagel.
What Brad Pagel says about the missing money
“I’m aware that Lexington Blue as a company has caused a lot of problems,” Pagel said Monday, although he did not take responsibility for the company’s misdeeds.
The Kentucky attorney general also is suing Pagel and Lexington Blue, alleging consumer fraud violations.
Pagel told the homeowners he is broke. “We’re on our last credit card,” Pagel said.
Although he admitted to living in a $5,000-a-month rental that had been prepaid for months in advance, he said he does not have money stashed away and has been reduced to borrowing from his wife’s grandparents.
He said photos he had previously posted online of piles of cash and a private jet were just “vision board” affirmations.
“Everyone assumes that because I put up a good front that I’m made of money,” Pagel said. “It was all marketing.”
He said he’s never been on a private plane.
“I can assure you if I had millions of dollars stored, I wouldn’t be putting myself at risk,” Pagel said. “I’d be long gone. I barely have the funds to make it here.”
To bring in cash, Pagel said he’s been hired to do roofing repairs and help with marketing, and he is selling his books on Amazon, but he denied he has formed a new roofing company in the Nashville area.
Pagel claimed not to know what happened to thousands of dollars in cashier’s checks and other payments made out of Lexington Blue’s accounts as the company was floundering.
“No man in his right mind would be sitting here facing this kind of music if he had that kind of money. They’d be gone,” Pagel said.
Payments for Pagel cars, nanny
For 3 1/2 hours on Monday, attorneys quizzed Pagel under oath about his knowledge of his company’s operations (minimal, Pagel said) and spending, including monthly checks of $5,000 and sometimes $7,000 paid to Pagel, as well as additional checks paid to his wife, Courtney Pagel.
At one point, Brad Pagel attempted to plead the Fifth Amendment, which can be done in some circumstances to avoid self-incrimination. Pagel, who was testifying in his capacity as company owner and president, has not been charged with a crime.
Gary Thompson, representing the Kentucky Attorney General’s office, was asking Pagel if Lexington Blue made car payments for a vehicle for Pagel’s wife, who allegedly worked as his personal assistant. Yes, a $50,000 Hyundai Genesis, Pagel confirmed.
“Was that a proper use of company funds, in your opinion?” Pagel did not respond. “Yes or no?”
“Fifth Amendment,” Pagel said.
Thompson asked what Pagel meant by that.
“Isn’t that what you say to skip a question?” Pagel asked.
Thompson suggested a recess so Pagel could consult with Southworth. Upon return, Pagel said the payments for his wife’s vehicle, as well as for his Ford Raptor (an $80,000 truck), were part of his benefits package, although Pagel admitted there was nothing in writing about the package.
At another point, Pagel admitted Lexington Blue had paid for a personal nanny for his son but said he did not recall when.
“Would you agree that is not an appropriate used of Lexington Blue funds?,” Thompson said.
“I don’t know,” Pagel said.
Pagel claimed not to recall many details about his own or his company's spending, and he repeatedly blamed his executive team for getting the company into financial trouble, saying he was not part of day-to-day decision-making after his son was born in 2022.
Former employee threatened in court
But a former employee, Sarah McNichols, who is also a creditor and asked questions Monday via telephone, questioned how Pagel could claim that when he had been in constant contact through text messages with managers.
Pagel then threatened the employee, saying that she is “potential cause of action,” meaning that Lexington Blue’s estate might sue her.
“Everything that I have has been turned over to the proper authorities,” McNichols responded. “You saw their information, and you saw their names and when you gave money to your wife. It was their money.”
After several hours, and many unanswered questions, the U.S. Trustee’s attorney said the hearing would need to be continued. A date has not been set for the remainder of the hearing.
Other details that emerged Monday included:
- One of the homeowners asked Pagel about a company called Tidy Tim, in which Pagel was a partner with conservative commentator Andrew Cooperrider in 2018, according to the Kentucky Secretary of State business records. “I got fleeced,” Pagel said.
- Pagel has not paid his personal income taxes for 2024, nor has the company Lexington Blue filed taxes for 2024. A representative of the IRS was listening in on the meeting via telephone on Monday.
- Pagel asked his CPA about hiring an attorney who specialized in asset protection.
- Pagel said he used his “owner draw” to have Lexington Blue wire cash to pay for a car for his adult daughter.
- Pagel had Lexington Blue employees do repairs to his house but did not seem to remember if Lexington Blue paid them.
This story was originally published August 12, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
