The bankruptcy court's opinion exemplifies the second guessing that can confront solvency opinion providers and highlights issues that providers should carefully vet with experienced legal counsel.

Lenders are often counseled about fraudulent conveyance risks when they engage in financing transactions. It is usual, customary and the norm for steps to be taken to attempt to reduce such risks, including obtaining solvency and fairness opinions and using so-called savings clauses in loan documents. These undertakings and features notwithstanding, when a borrower or guarantor files a chapter 11 petition, often fraudulent conveyance claims are threatened, used as leverage, and settled within the context of a plan of reorganization.

CIT Group Inc.

This evening, the OTS closed Century Bank, FSB, headquartered in Sarasota, Florida, and the Florida Office of Financial Regulation closed Orion Bank, headquarte

On November 4, 2009, the Federal Trade Commission (the “FTC” or “Commission”) held a public forum to discuss proposed amendments to the Commission's Telemarketing Sales Rule (“TSR”) to address the sale of debt relief services. The proposed rules would reshape the availability of alternatives to bankruptcy and services to counter the efforts of debt collectors.

Yesterday, Daniel K. Tarullo, a governor of the Federal Reserve System, continued his vigorous speaking schedule with a speech at the Institute of International Bankers Conference on Cross-Border Insolvency Issues in New York.

Yesterday, FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair, the keynote speaker at the Institute of International Bankers Cross-Border Insolvency Issues Conference in New York, stressed the need to end the “too big to fail” mentality by “eliminating the belief that the government will always support large, interconnected financial firms.” Chairman Bair noted that in order to do so, “we need an effective mechanism to close large, financial intermediaries when they get into trouble.”

Whether or not a bankrupt tenant is required to pay post-petition rent, and when that rent needs to be paid, are issues of significant importance to both debtors and landlords. A recent decision by the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel of the Eighth Circuit (the jurisdiction that encompasses Minnesota) adds yet another dimension to the spectrum of cases addressing the payment of "stub" rent by a bankrupt tenant under a non-residential lease of real property and at the same time highlights the importance of working with legal counsel whenever a tenant is in financial distress.

Yesterday afternoon, the House Judiciary Committee held Part II of its series of hearings entitled “Too Big to Fail – the Role for Bankruptcy and Antitrust Law in Financial Regulation Reform.” Yesterday’s hearing focused on proposed financia

On Monday, the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) released a report entitled “Factors Affecting Efforts to Limit Payments to AIG Counterparties.” The report examines certain transactions related to the rescue of AIG, including the creation of Maiden Lane III, a limited liability company formed last year to facilitate the purchase of assets from counterparties of AIG Financia