people will only remember the 1 thing you did wrong
Which was Maynard and Harris selling to Longmint in the first place.
I doubt there are many (if any) people in the industry who would have a bad thing to say against any of the people who worked at/for Sterling ... hopefully, their reputation, if they remain or come back, would return quite quickly IF new ownership and management were to take over.
Cheers
Whirls