On June 1, the Maine coast on-line news site Village Soup, which publishes the Camden Herald Gazette, reported that Steven Geppi and a partner were sued in federal court over $600,000 in bad debt owed Camden National Bank. Their properties on the Maine coast, purchased in 2005, are already in federal receivership due to $14.7 million in unpaid principal on a mortgage owed PNC Bank, according to April coverage in the Bangor Daily News.

Geppi, of course, is famous in Baltimore as a minority owner of the Baltimore Orioles, founder of Geppi's Entertainment Museum (next to Camden Yards stadium), and publisher of Baltimore magazine.

Given the Orioles' ongoing poor performance and light turn-outs at the Yards, it's not hard to imagine that Geppi isn't seeing much helpful return on that investment. The Entertainment Museum's fortunes are also in doubt. So far this year, the Daily Record has reported that the museum was behind on its rent to the Maryland Stadium Authority, that it soon got payments up to date, and that, in May, the authority lopped off a third of the rent. As for Baltimore magazine's health, an indication comes from the June newsletter of the Baltimore chapter of the American Institute of Architects, which reports that, "due to a serious drop in its advertising income, Baltimore Magazine will no longer sponsor the AIABaltimore Residential Design Awards competition," a longstanding partnership.

More importantly, Geppi dominates the global comics world as CEO of Diamond Comic Distributors. In February, the Publisher's Weekly comics blog The Beat reported on Geppi's misfortunes, prompting much speculative discussion on what the problems could mean to comics. The general consensus: Geppi's $50 million personal collection of collectibles, if liquidated, could easily keep him and his businesses afloat for years to come.

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