Celsius’ retail borrowers finally have an answer on who owns the cryptocurrency they deposited into Celsius in exchange for a loan from Celsius – spoiler alert: on November 13, 2023 the bankruptcy court held that Celsius’ terms of service “clearly and unambiguously” gave Celsius ownership of retail borrowers’ cryptocurrency. The bankruptcy court’s decision follows its January 2023 decision which similarly held that the cryptocurrency of Celsius’ “Earn” customers also belonged to Celsius because the terms of service similarly unambiguously granted Celsius title ownership.
This week’s TGIF considers a recent case where the Supreme Court of Queensland rejected a director’s application to access an executory contract of sale entered into by receivers and managers on the basis it was not a ‘financial record’
Key Takeaways
This week’s TGIF looks at the decision of the Federal Court of Australia in Donoghue v Russells (A Firm)[2021] FCA 798 in which Mr Donoghue appealed a decision to make a sequestration order which was premised on him ‘carrying on business in Australia' for the purpose of section 43(1)(b)(iii) of the Bankruptcy Act 1966 (Cth) (Act).
Key Takeaways
The liquidity-fueled lull in restructuring activity provides both an interesting historical echo of the late 1990s and a useful opportunity for market participants to take note of a deceptively interesting opinion in Giuliano ex rel. Consolidated Bedding, Inc. v. L&P Financial Services Co. (In re Consolidated Bedding, Inc.), Case No. 19-50727, 2021 WL 2638594 (Bankr. D. Del. June 25, 2021) (Shannon, J.).
This week’s TGIF considers an application to the Federal Court for the private hearing of a public examination where separate criminal proceedings were also on foot.
Key takeaways
This week’s TGIF looks at a recent decision of the Victorian Supreme Court, where a winding up application was adjourned to allow the debtor company to pursue restructuring under the recently introduced small business restructuring reforms.
Key takeaways
In turbulent economic times, clients often ask us how they can find out whether a particular company or person is in bankruptcy. While we can run quick searches for this information, there are ways you can find this information on your own. If a quick Google search does not yield results, two resources maintained by the U.S. federal courts are the Multi-Court Voice Case Information System (McVCIS) and Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER). The first resource is free, and the second requires setting up an online account for payment of relatively small fees.
When a creditor is the target of a bankruptcy trustee or debtor’s claim to take back money paid before bankruptcy on a legitimate debt, it’s bitter justice. The concept is fair enough: pulling funds back into the bankruptcy estate so they can be redistributed to creditors in accordance with the Bankruptcy Code’s priority scheme and on a pro rata basis. In practice, though, it’s hard to see the fairness of giving back money you were entitled to receive. Two statutory amendments that will take effect in late February of 2020 have the potential to put a damper on some preference claims.
Signing the Family Farmer Relief (FFR) Act of 2019 was like opening a pressure release valve. American farmers have suffered increasing financial stress this year from numerous sources, so a change in the law making Chapter 12 available to more farmers is likely to push the number of bankruptcy filings higher.
LEGAL CHANGES