Things went from bad to worse for Jon Rudolph's group of companies this week when his flagship Golden Hill Ventures went into receivership Monday.

Golden Hill Ventures – the oldest company in Rudolph's multimillion-dollar construction, mining and personal financing conglomerate – gave notice it was intending to file for bankruptcy recently.

The move was intended to keep the wolves at bay by alerting creditors to the company's financial problems but preventing them from taking action such as placing liens on the soon-to-be insolvent company's assets.

The company is about $20 million in the hole, according to documents filed by its largest creditor, GE Capital.

Plans to repay the almost $7 million Golden Hill owes to GE "are not viable,” the financing company claims, largely because they are based on repayment of an $11-million loan made to Ross Mining.

But Ross Mining, another of Rudolph's companies, recently went into receivership as well, because of a $3-million debt to the mine's founder, Norman Ross, who took back control of Ross Mining this past summer.

In its affidavit, GE outlined "a series of complex reorganizations” in Rudolph's group of companies.

These included multimillion-dollar loans made between entities all owned by Rudolph, as well as the creation of a corporation for the sole purpose of purchasing a helicopter and another formed in order to buy Rudolph's yacht, Northern Romance.

It also described how Rudolph came to be in such dire financial straits. According to GE's analysis, Golden Hill's woes began in mid-2008 and can be blamed almost entirely on rising fuel prices and a sickly economy.

The first blow came in the fall, when Rudolph's placer mining operation near Dawson Creek, B.C. was frozen in before the season's gold haul could be removed.

This, combined with unexpectedly high fuel prices, meant an unpaid bill of $650,000 to Mackenzie Petroleum and several missed payments to Norman Ross equaling $3 million.

Next it was a government road-building contract, which came in way over the negotiated price. Fuel costs were double what Rudolph had expected, and Golden Hill ended up swallowing half a million dollars.

Finally, there was a contract with the mining company Adanac Molybdenum to do a $30-million stripping job at Ruby Creek.

In anticipation of continued work at the site once the mine started operating, Rudolph moved a large amount of heavy equipment to the Atlin, B.C. area, maintained a full payroll, and turned down or didn't pursue other contracts.

But in December 2008, Adanac succumbed to the world financial crisis. The mine folded and Rudolph was left with a pocket full of bills but no money to pay them.

The group of companies now owes $20 million to various creditors, including $850,000 to Revenue Canada, but is worth only $15 million and has no money coming in.

"I have determined from my review ... that the Golden Hill group of companies presently have not significant source of revenue to speak of,” the GE analyst concludes.

On Monday, Rudolph agreed to hand over about 130 pieces of heavy equipment valued at $6.4 million to GE.

Rudolph could not be reached for comment.