Interest Rates. Currency of Judgment. New York state court holds that interest rate set in bankruptcy proceeding controls over contractual interest rate and that New York law requires a New York judgment be rendered in U.S. dollars.

Lehman Bros. Int'l (Europe) (In Admin.) v. AG Fin. Prod., Inc., No. 653284/2011 (Sup. Ct. N.Y. County May 17, 2023) [click for opinion]

Filed under:
USA, Derivatives, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Baker McKenzie, International Swaps and Derivatives Association
Authors:
David Zaslowsky
Location:
USA
Firm:
Baker McKenzie
BlockFi Unsecured Creditors Seek to Liquidate the Company and End the “Extortion”

On June 27, 2023, the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors (the “Committee”) in the BlockFi Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization case filed an Objection to the company’s Plan and essentially requested that the company be liquidated. The Official Committee is made up largely of 600,000 individual customers of BlockFi.

Filed under:
USA, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Baker McKenzie, FTX
Authors:
David Zaslowsky
Location:
USA
Firm:
Baker McKenzie
SEC Agrees to Let Company Investors be Paid First in BlockFi Bankruptcy

BlockFi is a wealth management and trading firm for cryptocurrency holders that first commenced operations in 2017. In July 2021, we wrote about BlockFi’s bumpy road to going public, even though its valuation had just hit $5 billion.

Filed under:
USA, Capital Markets, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Baker McKenzie, Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, FTX
Authors:
David Zaslowsky
Location:
USA
Firm:
Baker McKenzie
Bankruptcy court declines to accord comity to reorganization plan approved by Mexican court

In re Vitro, S.A.B. de C.V., No. 11-33335-HDH-15 (Bankr. N.D. Tex. June 13, 2012)

Filed under:
USA, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Baker McKenzie, Bankruptcy, Debtor, Comity, Title 11 of the US Code
Authors:
David Zaslowsky , Grant Hanessian
Location:
USA
Firm:
Baker McKenzie
District court holds that a bankruptcy action’s automatic stay, and the bankruptcy's court's power to enjoin violations of the stay, applied extraterritorially

Sec. Investor Prot. Corp. v. Bernard L. Madoff Inv. Secs., 474 B.R. 76 (2012)

The trustee for the Securities Investor Protection Act ("SIPA") liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC ("BLMIS") filed a complaint in the bankruptcy court against Maxam Absolute Return Fund Ltd. ("Maxam"), seeking the return of about $100 million distributed to Maxam by BLMIS.  Maxam answered the complaint and then sued the trustee in the Cayman Islands seeking a declaration that it was not required to return the money. 

Filed under:
USA, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Baker McKenzie, Bankruptcy, Debtor, Injunction, Extraterritoriality
Authors:
David Zaslowsky , Grant Hanessian
Location:
USA
Firm:
Baker McKenzie
Personal jurisdiction

Tenth Circuit holds that Canadian nationals who conspire to commit a breach of fiduciary duty against a Delaware corporation operating exclusively in Oklahoma are subject to personal jurisdiction in Oklahoma despite their lack of physical contact with the state.  Canadian law firm alleged to have assisted the conspirators is not, however, subject to personal jurisdiction.

Filed under:
USA, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Baker McKenzie, Fiduciary, Personal jurisdiction, Delaware General Corporation Law, Tenth Circuit
Authors:
David Zaslowsky , Grant Hanessian
Location:
USA
Firm:
Baker McKenzie
Bankruptcy. Discovery. Sanctions. Bankruptcy court sanctions attorney for failing to make reasonable efforts to obtain discovery materials held outside the U.S. by incarcerated debtor's agents and attorneys.

In re Markus, 607 B.R. 379 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 2019) [click for opinion]  

Filed under:
USA, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Baker McKenzie, Bankruptcy, Debtor, Title 11 of the US Code, United States bankruptcy court
Authors:
David Zaslowsky , Grant Hanessian
Location:
USA
Firm:
Baker McKenzie