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Stockbroker defense shields Ponzi-scheme broker fees and commissions from avoidance

InGrayson Consulting, Inc. v. Wachovia Securities, LLC (In re Derivium Capital LLC), 716 F.3d 355 (4th Cir. 2013), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit examined whether certain securities transferred and payments made during the course of a Ponzi scheme could be avoided as fraudulent transfers under sections 544 and 548 of the Bankruptcy Code. The court upheld a judgment denying avoidance of pre-bankruptcy transfers of securities because the debtor did not have an “interest” in the securities at the time of the transfers.

USA, Capital Markets, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Jones Day, Conflict of laws, Debtor, Security (finance), Title 11 of the US Code, Fourth Circuit
The rationale against substantive consolidation of nondebtor entities: Florida on the front line

On January 10, 2012, a Florida bankruptcy court ruled in In re Pearlman, 462 B.R. 849 (Bankr. M.D. Fla. 2012), that substantive consolidation is purely a bankruptcy remedy and that it accordingly did not have the power to consolidate the estate of a debtor in bankruptcy with the assets and affairs of a nondebtor. In so ruling, the court staked out a position on a contentious issue that has created a widening rift among bankruptcy and appellate courts regarding the scope of a bankruptcy court’s jurisdiction over nondebtor entities.

USA, Florida, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Jones Day, Bankruptcy, Debtor, United States bankruptcy court, Eleventh Circuit
Second Circuit holds that senior creditors’ “gifting” of value to existing shareholder under reorganization plan violates absolute priority rule

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, on Feb. 7, 2011, held that senior creditors could not “gift” part of their reorganization plan recovery to existing shareholders of the debtor.In re DBSD N. Am., Inc., __ F.3d __, 2011 WL 350480 (2d Cir. Feb. 7, 2011) (2-1) (Lynch, J.) (explainingIn re DBSD N. Am., Inc., 627 F.3d 496 (2d Cir. 2010) (summary opinion)). Its extensive 62-page opinion explained the court’s previous two-page summary ruling of Dec.

USA, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP, Share (finance), Bankruptcy, Shareholder, Debtor, Unsecured debt, Interest, Debt, Standing (law), Unsecured creditor, Sprint Corporation, Second Circuit, United States bankruptcy court, US District Court for the Southern District of New York
Fifth Circuit corrects undervaluation of secured lender’s priority claim more than two years after consummation of reorganization plan

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, on Oct. 19, 2010, corrected a bankruptcy court’s calculation of a secured lender group’s superpriority administrative claim more than two years after consummation of the debtor’s Chapter 11 reorganization plan. In re SCOPAC et al., F.3d__, 2010 WL 4069525, at *2-3, *5-6 (5th Cir. Oct. 19, 2010) (Jones, Ch.J.) [“Pacific Lumber II”]; see alsoIn re Pacific Lumber Co., 584 F.3d 229, 242 (5th Cir. 2009) [“Pacific Lumber I”] (plan “substantially consummated within weeks of confirmation”).

USA, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP, Debtor, Collateral (finance), Federal Reporter, Foreclosure, Secured creditor, Valuation (finance), United States bankruptcy court, Fifth Circuit