A prominent San Antonio Catholic high school has a Chris Pettit problem

At the end of 2016, two representatives of Antonian College Preparatory High School paid a visit to Christopher “Chris” Pettit at his San Antonio law office. The pair — then-Principal Tim Petersen and alum Charles Montemayor — detailed a capital campaign to fund improvements at the Catholic school in hopes Pettit would contribute. While they didn’t solicit Pettit to give money during the visit, he later committed to help fund the campaign’s first phase — the conversion of a building on the Castle Hills campus to a library, learning center and six classrooms. The school subsequently named the building the Pettit Family Center for Academic Excellence. A plaque in the lobby reflects that the building was dedicated in honor of Pettit’s parents. Pettit and his three brothers graduated from Antonian.

Pettit’s pledge — $500,000, according to a person familiar with it but who did not want to be identified — is drawing scrutiny in the former San Antonio attorney’s bankruptcy case as he faces allegations that he stole millions of dollars from former clients. Pettit reported about $40.5 million in assets and $112.2 million in liabilities for himself and his now-defunct law firm in the massive Chapter 11 case, but so far has been unwilling or unable to explain where his client’s money went. An amended bankruptcy filing last month showed Pettit contributed $225,000 to Antonian from 2019 to 2021. The pledge was spread over multiple years, and it’s not clear how much, if any, remains unpaid. Under bankruptcy law, a trustee can claw back assets on behalf of a bankruptcy estate if they were fraudulently transferred within two years before the filing of the case. State law expands that time to four years. Mary Elizabeth Heard, a San Antonio lawyer who represents longtime Pettit clients who lost $2 million, said she hopes Chapter 11 trustee Eric Terry will void Pettit’s “fraudulent transfers so that the money will be available” to pay his creditors — including her clients. “Although the bankruptcy code provides that some charitable contributions are exempt from being clawed back into the bankruptcy estate, I do not believe those conditions exist in Mr. Pettit’s case as it relates to the $225,000 contribution,” Heard said in an email.