Mauri found a buyer who offered him $6 million, $2 million less than the assessed value, he said. The sale was supposed to close in November. When the club filed for bankruptcy, the buyer walked.

"We used our kid's college fund for that [$250,000 club] membership," his wife Michele said, fighting back tears in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Butte on Nov. 25. Their son, 17, is scheduled to start school in the fall.

"Now the money's gone," she said.

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