The financial problems that arose at subprime auto lender Tricolor Holdings and auto parts manufacturer First Brands were “easy to spot” ahead of time, Todd Boehly, the co-founder and chief executive officer of Eldridge Industries, said on Monday.

Eldridge considered investing in debt issued by the Texas-based Tricolor and by First Brands, Boehly said at Semafor World Economy in Washington, DC. In both cases, Eldridge passed.

“Tricolor was to us an obvious one that was, not something that we were gonna participate in. We saw the same thing on First Brands,” Boehly said, referring to the potential for things to go wrong. “The reality is those two were reasonably easy to spot.”

Last year in September Tricolor filed to liquidate its assets through a Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceeding. It listed assets and liabilities of more than $1 billion. First Brands filed for bankruptcy soon after amid allegations that the company secured financing using invoices already pledged to back other loans, as well as nonexistent invoices.

The collapse of the two companies rattled the market for privately issued structured securities.