December 2022

Belton pool company declares bankruptcy; customers claim they are out thousands of dollars

BELTON, Texas (KWTX) – At least a dozen Central Texan homeowners who contracted with a local company to build pools in their backyards say they are out thousands of dollars.

Several of the homeowners told KWTX that after signing construction contracts with Belton pool company Ocean Quest Pools by Lew Akins, the company stopped responding, leaving them with unfinished projects in their backyards.

Tara and Keith Moore said they stopped hearing from Ocean Quest after after a couple of weeks of quick progress on their pool.

“I reached out trying to get an update from the owner and I could never gain a response,” Tara Moore, an Ocean Quest customer, told KWTX. “Only to find out that they were pursuing plans to file for bankruptcy and have left myself and several other community members in a bind with unfinished pools.”

This was the case for Shana Brader and her fiancé David Roberson, too.

“Delayed communication, or no communication at all,” Roberson, another Ocean Quest customer, said of the company’s service. “And that’s when we started to see the changes in the armor and worried there might be some financial duress with OQP.”

Ocean Quest Pools filed for

… Read the rest
December 29, 2022 by ATTORNEY

FTX Paid Crypto Bankruptcy Lawyers $12 Million for Early Work

Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX Ltd. paid its lead lawyers more than $12 million to handle the earliest portions of the closely watched Chapter 11 case, according to a Wednesday court filing.

Law firm Sullivan & Cromwell received a $12 million retainer from an FTX-controlled company shortly before the exchange’s Nov. 11 bankruptcy filing, the filing shows. The firm has drawn a little more than $3 million of that, largely for work done in the days leading up to the rushed bankruptcy filing.

Quinn Emanuel is also working for FTX and its board of directors as special counsel in a litigation capacity, looking for legal claims the bankruptcy estate might be able to bring. The firm received about $575,000 in the three months leading up to FTX’s filing, according to another court filing.

Landis Rath & Cobb, whose lawyers are FTX’s local Delaware counsel, received a $300,000 retainer in the 90 days leading up the filing.

FTX imploded in spectacular fashion in early November, leading to the firing of co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried and a rushed Chapter 11 filing of more than 100 FTX-related companies. In a sign of the hurried pace, FTX didn’t submit typical “first-day” filings until

… Read the rest
December 25, 2022 by ATTORNEY

Feds asks judge to block ex-Milford strip club owner bankruptcy

BRIDGEPORT — A federal government lawyer says a Fairfield man who used to own a Milford strip club should be barred from declaring bankruptcy, citing dozens of separate instances in which he allegedly concealed assets or “knowingly and fraudulently” failed to disclose details of his financial affairs — including tens of thousands of dollars in checks signed by a former reputed mobster.

The feds’ complaint in the case of Joseph Regensburger, former president of Keepers, comes weeks after the Woodmont Road “gentlemen’s club” asked the state Supreme Court to overturn a $113,560 judgment to dancers who worked there affirmed by the Connecticut Appellate Court in October. 

Regensbuger did not return a message seeking comment Tuesday – and declined to speak during a hearing in the bankruptcy case last month before Judge Julie Manning.

The latest developments come more than seven years after the exotic dancers first filed a lawsuit in the case claiming they were not being paid a minimum wage or overtime after working 40 hours in any week and were fined for breaking the club rules — and more than three years after an arbitrator initially ruled in their favor.

A judge confirmed the arbitrator’s ruling in October

… Read the rest
December 21, 2022 by ATTORNEY

FTX bankruptcy lawyers say they ‘do not trust’ Bahamas government

Dec 14 (Reuters) – Lawyers for the bankrupt crypto exchange FTX on Wednesday opposed a demand for internal records from an insolvent affiliate based in the Bahamas, saying they “do not trust” the Bahamian government with data that could be used to siphon off assets from the bankrupt company.

Liquidators of FTX’s Bahamian business, FTX Digital Markets, had asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge John Dorsey to give them access to the U.S. unit’s Slack, Google and Amazon Web Services accounts and data.

At a court hearing in Delaware, lawyers for FTX asked Dorsey to deny the request. They argued that Bahamian regulators had worked with FTX’s founder, the recently arrested Sam Bankman-Fried, to undermine the U.S. bankruptcy case and withdraw assets to the detriment of some creditors.

FTX attorney James Bromley told Dorsey that the Bahamian government has previously obtained information from FTX Digital Market’s liquidators and used it to siphon digital assets away from FTX.

“This is dangerous information,” Bromley said. “We do not trust the Bahamian government.”

The Securities Commission of the Bahamas (SCB) has previously disputed FTX’s “misstatements” about the Bahamian government‘s response to FTX’s collapse.

Asked for comment on Wednesday, the SCB said it “is not

… Read the rest
December 20, 2022 by ATTORNEY

Lawyer for Chris Pettit raises concerns about ‘authenticity’ of $270 million in bankruptcy claims

A lawyer for Chris Pettit, in a letter to the judge presiding over the ex-attorney’s bankruptcies, has raised questions about the “authenticity” of the $270 million in claims submitted by creditors in the cases.

The “obvious concern is that some creditors may take substantially more dividend than they are entitled to the detriment of honest creditors,” San Antonio bankruptcy lawyer Ron Smeberg wrote.

Pettit is in jail awaiting trial in connection with the alleged theft of millions of dollars from his former legal clients. He pleaded not guilty after his indictment on
five counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering
last week.

On ExpressNews.com:

Judge denies Chris Pettit’s release on bond, will remain jailed until his criminal trial

Pettit filed for bankruptcy protection
for himself and his law firm June 1 amid
mounting lawsuits that alleged he had defrauded clients. He subsequently
surrendered his law license
and shuttered his offices.

Smeberg said questions about the creditors’ claims “developed” during a detention hearing Tuesday in federal court in which prosecutors argued Pettit should remain incarcerated pending trial.

FBI agent Thomas Sweatt testified the “current claims” against Pettit were in the range of $30 (million) to $70 million,

… Read the rest
December 19, 2022 by ATTORNEY
December 2022
M T W T F S S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728293031