Anton Valukas, 66, was the chief investigator who scrutinized the now infamous Lehman Brothers Holdingsí $639 billion bankruptcy, the biggest financial failure in the history of the United States. Spending a year and $38 million, he produced a meticulous 2,200 page report that goes in depth into revealing some amazing details such as whether JPMorgan Chase and Co. triggered Lehmanís bankruptcy, had Barclays PLC benefited from it or not and the role played by the US Federal Reserve in all this.
The New York bankruptcy court papers show that Valukasí report came as a result of interviewing more than 100 people, going through more than 10 million documents in addition to some 20 million pages of emails from Lehman. It is not uncommon for investigators to encounter difficulty in persuading witnesses to come out into the open. Many prefer to remain anonymous and keep their testimonies confidential.
But Valukas successfully negotiated with witnesses to do away with their right to confidentiality. As such, he stated in a letter to Judge James Peck only 5 documents out of 3,158 documents referred to in his report are meant to be kept confidential. These 5 documents only relate to a few pages of the report, which were redacted from the final version handed over to the judge. It was Barclays PLC, the US Office of Thrift Supervision and CME Group, a futures and options exchange that requested the redactions. The rest of the documents could be disclosed.
Valukas also rightfully denied Lehman access to his documents and witnesses while carrying on his investigations.
Filed under Tampa Bankruptcy News by on Mar 18th, 2010. Comment. 
The Columbian, a Vancouver-based newspaper, had its bankruptcy reorganization plan approved Friday after 9 months of negotiations with its creditors under Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Part of the agreement with the creditors involved the transfer of ownership of its 6 storey building to one of its largest creditor, Bank of America. The Bank was the last major creditor to give its approval to the reorganization plans. This comes two years after insurmountable debts, shrinking revenue and high staff turnover for the 120 year old newspaper.
The Columbian has been owned by the Campbell family through their flagship company, Downtown Vitality Partners since 1921. It was only in January 2008 that they had moved the newspaper operations into its new steel-structured building at 415 W. Sixth St, due to space requirements and operational expansion. But that same month, the economy started to shrink and with it plummeted the newspaper industry. The very next month saw the first of what would be three rounds of lay-offs among workers until by the end of that year, the newspaper had laid off 100 out of 360 staff workers.
Coupled with the loss of many good workers was a dwindling subscriber base. This prompted the company to move its operations out of its new 130,000 square foot steel building and back to its old single storey headquarters at 701 W. Eight St. Its steel-structured building on Sixth St was put up for sale for $14.5 million although it was initially valued at $30 million. Until today, the building is still on the market.
The city of Vancouver has expressed its interest in buying the building. At present, the city’s administrative departments are housed in separate buildings all over the city and many of them in leased properties. But any purchase of the building would require a thorough evaluation by the finance department of the city authorities as they themselves are experiencing a $6 million shortfall in revenue this year. NAI Norris, Beggs and Simpson is the agency handling the sale of the building.
Despite the uncertainty of whether the sale of the building will materialize, the Campbell family believes the prospects of the Columbian are bright. The number of staff workers has stood at 237 since last year with 55 of these being newsroom staff. Subscriptions have also stabilized since falling by 18% since 2007. Daily readership stands at about 35,000 except on Sundays when the readership usually reaches 40,000. Advertisement revenue has returned and is on the increase, which is more good news.
All in all, it appears that the Columbian is back in business.
Filed under Chapter 7 (Tampa), Tampa Bankruptcy News by on Feb 12th, 2010. Comment.
Zayat Stables Files Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
If you are into horse racing, you would have heard of the name Ahmed Zayat, owner of Zayat Stables and breeder of fine thoroughbred race horses. At last year’s Kentucky Derby, one of Zayat’s horses, Pioneer of the Nile won second place. Zayat himself won the distinction of being the highest earner among thoroughbred owners in 2008, grossing some $6.9 million that year.
However all this was not enough to stave off financial difficulties. Zayat made a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in New Jersey last Wednesday. He is currently embroiled in a legal tussle with Fifth Third Bank, who is suing him over more than $34 million the bank says he borrowed for a range of expenses. Arising out of the lawsuit, a hearing is to be held next week to decide whether Zayat Stables should go under receivership. But now that Zayat has filed for bankruptcy, it is uncertain if the hearing will proceed.
St Mary’s Hospital Emerges from Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
With debts amounting to $100 million, St Mary’s Hospital in New Jersey filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March 2009. After less than a year, the hospital has now received official approval for their reorganization plan from a federal bankruptcy judge. Hence, it is determined to emerge reinvigorated and more committed to serving the community and their long-serving physicians. With the exit from bankruptcy comes a new ER fast track, technical equipment for the oncology and cardiology programs and expansions in other key programs.
St Mary’s hospital is a 292 bed non-profit hospital supported by the Sisters of Charity of St Elizabeth besides sharing $40 million in state grants with eight other hospitals. At the height of its bankruptcy process, more than 500 staff workers in St Mary’s agreed to receiving a 5% salary deduction, which was subsequently reduced to 4% due to the hospital’s reorganization. Now that it has emerged from bankruptcy, the hospital will incrementally restore the salaries of its staff and even award pay rises to deserving employees.
St Mary’s was not the only hospital that had to endure financial constraints. Since 2007, six New Jersey hospitals have likewise filed for bankruptcy. Five of those had either closed or sold their assets. St Mary’s has the distinction of being the first hospital to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in New Jersey.
If your business is struggling with insurmountable debts, it is recommended that you consider filing for bankruptcy protection. Call our Tampa bankruptcy attorneys at (813) 200-4133 for a free consultation. We will tailor a bankruptcy proposal for your specific business needs.
Filed under Chapter 7 (Tampa), Tampa Bankruptcy News by on Feb 11th, 2010. Comment.
Last year, 2009 was the seventh worse year for personal bankruptcy cases. A total of 1.4 million people filed for bankruptcy. It is obvious that most these cases were due in some way to the state of the economy. People who lost their jobs, earned less through shorter working hours or had the terms of their mortgages adjusted till they could not afford it finally succumbed to mounting debts and sought bankruptcy protection.
But how do you decide whether you should file for bankruptcy? Essentially, bankruptcy is a provision in the law that you are entitled to and it is meant to give you a fresh start when you have exhausted all means of paying up your bills and have no means to earn more income or restructure your debts. It should not be used as a bail-out when you have another recourse to settle your debts.
Here are the things you should consider about seeking bankruptcy protection:
You have to undergo two compulsory credit counseling classes. One is scheduled before your bankruptcy proceedings take place and the other is after your debts have been resolved. Among the things brought to light in the pre-bankruptcy credit counseling is the cost involved in going ahead with the bankruptcy application and all it entails. Experience has shown that approximately half of those who complete the pre-bankruptcy credit counseling go on to engage a lawyer to do their filing for them while the other half try to pay off their debts without resorting to bankruptcy.
Besides the pre-bankruptcy counseling class, there is the financial management course which is set after your debts are resolved. This course is a must before the judge will officially grant you a discharge from your debts. The cost for the courses is $150 but there is a provision in the law for this fee to be waived if you genuinely cannot afford it.
Another consideration of filing for bankruptcy is what type of bankruptcy to file. Essentially for individuals, there are 2 types, distinguished by the relevant chapters in the Bankruptcy Code, namely Chapter 7 and Chapter 13. A Chapter 7 bankruptcy is for you if you earn less than a fixed average income for a typical person with a family the size of yours in your state. In such a case, a state-appointed trustee will be appointed to sell off your assets and distribute the proceeds to your creditors. The remainder of your debts will be discharged. On the other hand, a Chapter 13 bankruptcy is a restructuring of your unsecured debts to be paid off between 3 to 5 years.
A further consideration would be the filing fees involved. A Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing would cost $299 whereas a Chapter 13 one costs $274 payable either as a lump sum or in installments. On top of that, there are the legal fees that vary among lawyers. It is not advisable to file for bankruptcy without the services of a lawyer.
Filed under Chapter 7 (Tampa), Tampa Bankruptcy News by on Feb 10th, 2010. Comment.
Movie Gallery Inc., the operator of Hollywood Video Stores is seeking bankruptcy protection for the second time. With dwindling sales revenue, the nation’s second largest video store chain is closing 9 of its 16 remaining stores in the Central Florida area. This means the closure of all Tampa Bay area stores with the exception of one Hollywood Video at 13184 U.S. 301 S in Riverview.
In line with the impending bankruptcy process, a liquidation sale will be carried out. However, if you have an outstanding gift card, the company gave the assurance that these will be honored.
Movie Gallery was founded in Wilsonville, Oregon and had only 8 months ago emerged from bankruptcy filed in 2007. On Wednesday, it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Richmond, Va. This time, it will close 805 of its stores nationwide, bringing the total number of Hollywood Video stores and Game Crazy locations still open to 1,900 from what used to be more than 4,600 at its highest.
Movie Gallery has owned Hollywood Video since buying it over for $1.2 billion in 2005. It in turn is owned by Sopris Capital and Aspen Advisors who were creditors that were allowed ownership of the company during the previous bankruptcy. In the fourth quarter of last year, Movie Gallery reported a net loss of $129 million as substantially lower sales took its toll. Yearly sales fell by $0.6 billion to $1.4 billion in 2009 from $2 billion the year before.
Buying videos from videos stores was a common activity about 10 years or so ago. In recent times, however, the video retail business has had to face intense competition in the form of mail order DVD rental services and other forms of video business. Netflix is a company that runs a popular mail order DVD rental service. Then there are also other forms of competition for the movie going public such as RedBox or Blockbuster Video that maintain kiosks at supermarkets and discount stores offering $1 a night movie rentals.
With such competition and the weak economy, Movie Gallery has suffered its huge losses leading to their bankruptcy filing. But with bankruptcy protection, there is every chance for Movie Gallery’s business survival.
If your business is not doing well, consider applying for bankruptcy protection. It is your right under the law and will afford you the opportunity to wipe your slate clean of your debts so that you can start anew in your business.
Call our Tampa bankruptcy attorneys at (813) 200-4133 for a free consultation on your business.
Filed under Chapter 7 (Tampa), Tampa Bankruptcy News by on Feb 9th, 2010. Comment.
