HempBuild Magazine

*Tiger Fiber’s processing plant and factory pictured in 2024. Photo courtesy of Tiger Fiber.*

By Jean Lotus

Tiger Fiber Inc., a St. Louis-based processor of industrial hemp for building materials, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Oct. 30 in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Illinois in East St. Louis, company officials confirmed.

"Tiger Fiber filed for Chapter 11 to restructure its finances while it continues to operate and serve its customers," Tiger Fiber President James Forbes told HempBuild Magazine in a message. The company's website, tigerfiberhemp.com, was not operational as of Nov. 12.

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As reported in the St. Louis Business Journal, the fiber processor expanded its Sauget, Illinois, plant with $7 million in federal New Markets Tax Credit financing in 2022. The largest claims in the filing are two loans from the Heartland Regional Investment Fund, the tax-credit lender run by the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership: $4.96 million (Loan A) and $1.8 million (Loan B), about $6.76 million in all, the Business Journal reported.

The $6.76 million in Heartland fund loans grew out of the $7 million New Markets Tax Credit deal announced in April 2022. The program is federal: investors get credits against their federal taxes for funding businesses in low-income areas.

A St. Louis Economic Development Partnership spokesman said the organization knows of the filing and is working with the company on a path forward. "We cannot speak on the operations of the company," the spokesman told the Business Journal.

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Lawsuits on Pause

The filing also pauses two lawsuits brought by the family of the company's co-founder and former CEO, Jerred Killoren in June and August, 2025 in St. Louis County Circuit Court in Missouri, according to court records. The bankruptcy filing lists claims from LJ1, LLC, owned by Killoren's mother, Laura Killoren, for $900,000 and Jerred Killoren's at $130,000, both marked disputed.

Another suit paused by the bankruptcy filing was filed in September, 2026 in Illinois U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois.by a Topeka, KS company AST Genetics LLC, associated with another Tiger Fiber co-founder Richard Selby. The claim from vendor AST Genetics for $117,352 is also disputed in the bankruptcy filings.

Lawyers for the Killorens and AST Genetics did not respond to emails asking for comment by press time.

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*James Forbes, Tiger Fiber CEO, poses at Greenbuild Expo in Philadelphia. Photo courtesy of Ray Kaderli*

Still Operating

The court has given interim approval for Tiger Fiber to keep operating, pay wages owed before the filing and borrow from an insider. A hearing on further financing from Justine Petersen Housing and Reinvestment Corp. is set for Nov. 24, with a final hearing on the interim orders Dec. 1. The first meeting of creditors is Dec. 2, and claims are due March 2, 2027.

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Tiger Fiber processes industrial hemp into fiber and hurd for building and consumer products. Its 2022 expansion plan projected 90 full-time jobs in Sauget, IL.

Multiple US hemp-lime (hempcrete) insulated home builders have used Tiger Fiber hurd (shives) in their projects.

“When making the material selection for our San Antonio project I was excited to have several domestic options,” customer Ray Kaderli of New Braunfels, TX-based Hemp Build Network said in a statement. “The Tiger Fiber hurd was a quality choice that worked well in the cast-in-place installation method,” Kaderli added.