An Expert on the “Monster of Wall Street”
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Publicly, Diamond Finance Co. (“Diamond”) provided car loans to individuals with less-than-stellar credit. While Diamond did have “some actual business,” its purpose “quickly became a front to lure unsuspecting investors.”...more
Two recent decisions in the Madoff bankruptcy cases illustrate that the legacy of Bernie Madoff will long survive the man himself. Bernie Madoff died on April 14, 2021, while incarcerated in the Federal Medical Center in...more
The United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York has ruled that a creditor or trustee seeking to recover a subsequent transfer under Section 550(a) of the Bankruptcy Code need not obtain a judgment of...more
On June 3, 2022, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas refused to extend the “ponzi-scheme presumption” in connection with an actual intent fraudulent transfer claim because there was no actual ponzi...more
In In re Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, 12 F.4th 171 (2d Cir. 2021), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit revived litigation filed by the trustee administering the assets of defunct investment firm...more
Madoff - In what may be the beginning of the final chapter of more than a decade of litigation involving efforts to recover $41 million of the fictitious profits paid to certain investors in Bernard Madoff's defunct...more
In the latest chapter of more than a decade of litigation involving efforts to recover fictitious profits paid to certain customers of Bernard Madoff's defunct brokerage firm as part of the largest Ponzi scheme in history,...more
On February 25, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals (2nd Circuit) ruled that the trustee in the Chapter 11 case for Madoff Investment Securities, LLC could use the U.S. Bankruptcy Code to recover payments made between foreign...more
We’ve focused a lot on third-party releases lately, as bankruptcy courts across the country continue to evaluate whether and under what circumstances they are permissible. But, as a recent opinion of the United States Court...more
Q: I am a receiver in a Ponzi scheme case. While I know I can sue to recover excess payments made to investors in the scheme, the false profit they were paid, per Donell v. Kowell, 533 F3d 762 (9th Cir. 2008), in my case...more
The ability of a bankruptcy trustee to avoid fraudulent or preferential transfers is a fundamental part of U.S. bankruptcy law. However, when an otherwise avoidable transfer by a U.S. entity takes place outside the U.S. to a...more
The Bottom Line - In vacating judgments from both the District Court and the Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of New York, the Second Circuit held, in In re Picard, 917 F.3d 85 (2d Cir. 2019), that the trustee...more
On February 25, 2019, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued a decision holding that a trustee is not barred by either the presumption against extraterritoriality or by international comity...more
On February 25, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated the bankruptcy court’s dismissal of avoidance actions brought by Irving Picard, the trustee (Trustee) for the liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff...more
In a unanimous 25 February panel decision, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals held that the trustee liquidating Bernard L. Madoff's investment firm can claw back billions in Ponzi scheme proceeds from investors who received...more
The Second Circuit holds that the presumption against extraterritoriality and international comity do not bar recovery of purely foreign transfers. Key Points: ..The Second Circuit focused on the initial transfer from...more
The Second Circuit recently issued an important decision on a “related to” jurisdiction case arising out of the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme. SPV Osus, Ltd. v. UBS AG, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 3088 (2d Cir. Feb. 9, 2018). SPV...more
Alien Tort Statute (ATS)/Political Question Doctrine/Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act (FSIA)/ Act of State Doctrine - District Court Dismisses ATS Claim Where Alleged Conduct in US was not Directly Linked to Injuries...more
In the first installment of this article, we discussed the prevalence of preference litigation and some of the commonly-available defenses to business vendors to limit or even eliminate liability to the bankruptcy estate....more
This appeal is from an order by a district court in California, affirming a bankruptcy court’s denial of a motion to compel arbitration in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee’s adversary proceeding, in which the trustee sought...more
The Bankruptcy Code authorizes a bankruptcy trustee to avoid (i.e., obtain the return of) certain types of prepetition property transfers so that the bankrupt estate can be divided among creditors fairly. For example, a...more
On July 6, 2014, Judge Jed S. Rakoff, United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York, declined to extend the reaches of section 550(a) of the Bankruptcy Code abroad to permit the recovery of funds that...more
In re Madoff Securities Extends Morrison Framework to Prevent Avoidance of Purely Foreign Transfers under SIPA and the Bankruptcy Code - Applying the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Morrison v. National...more