Crypto Winter Means Hard Work for Bankruptcy Lawyers (Podcast)

Bankruptcy law is the ultimate countercyclical industry: business is booming when when things get bad. And things have almost never been worse in the crypto world, with even the most prominent coins down more than 40% in just the past year.

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Numerous crypto platforms—Voyager Digital, Celsius, BlockFi, and, most famously, FTX—have filed for Chapter 11. That means bankruptcy attorneys have a lot of work on their plates.

Bloomberg Law spoke to more than half a dozen of the attorneys working on these cases to hear if managing a crypto bankruptcy is just another day at the office. They say nothing in their careers prepared them to unwind what were essentially quasi-banks dealing with some of the most volatile financial assets known to humankind.

“I knew that they would present novel issues of law and technology,” White & Case lawyer Greg Pesce, who’s working on the Celsius bankruptcy, told us. “And that couldn’t begin to describe what we confronted.”

On this special episode of our weekly podcast, On The Merits, we hear what it’s like to be an attorney

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Landlord Josh Bruno presses fight to reclaim complexes | Courts

Cypress Park and the other properties that Bruno placed in bankruptcy still have some tenants. They include Forest Park, Liberty Park and Washington Park on the city’s east bank, and the 45-unit Riverview apartments in Kenner.







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Ashonta Hoffman said the pool at Oakmont Apartments in Algiers used to be beautiful and clear when she first moved there. It’s now full of algae and mosquitoes on Thursday, April 28, 2022. (Photo by Chris Granger | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)




All of them are now managed by a trustee appointed by Grabill last summer. Grabill has set hearing dates over the first two weeks of April to air the competing plans before deciding to approve Bruno’s reorganization or liquidate.

The fight is over control and management of properties that advocates claim Bruno ran into the ground while attempting to illegally evict some tenants during the height of COVID.

Fannie Mae, the lender, pushed in 2021 to foreclose, claiming Bruno failed to make timely payments on his notes. Bruno alleges that Fannie Mae duped him while he was working out a forbearance.

In Thursday’s court filing, Bruno says he aims to repair, renovate and redevelop

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Biden Administration Makes It Easier To Have Debt Discharged Through Bankruptcy

Biden Administration Makes It Easier To Have Debt Discharged Through Bankruptcy
Biden Administration Makes It Easier To Have Debt Discharged Through Bankruptcy

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While certain student loan borrowers can use the bankruptcy process to have their loans discharged, the process has been very cumbersome — but this might change thanks to new guidelines.

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In January, the Justice Department updated the attestation form that borrowers must complete to seek bankruptcy discharge of their federal student loans, Forbes reported. These changes include “tweaks to the reporting of monthly household income, clarifying instructions regarding when a borrower needs to provide additional information, new questions seeking details on whether a school closure impacted a borrower’s ability to repay their student loans, and more detailed information on a borrower’s student loan repayment, deferment, forbearance, and consolidation history.”

In addition, the updates stated that if the borrower is disabled, the disability does not have to be “permanent,” only “chronic” to potentially be a basis for a bankruptcy discharge.

This comes on the heels of the Department of Justice (DOJ), in conjunction with the Department of Education, issuing new guidance to simplify the process and establish standards for borrowers who seek

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Wantafreshstart Bankruptcy Attorneys Help Clients Rebuild Cr…

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WantAFreshStart Bankruptcy Lawyers Helps Clients Rebuild Their Credit and Financial Future After Bankruptcy

GILBERT, ARIZONA, UNITED STATES, March 19, 2023 /einpresswire.com / — WantAFreshStart, a leading bankruptcy law firm in gilbert , is pleased to announce that their team of experienced bankruptcy attorneys is now offering clients comprehensive credit rebuilding assistance following the bankruptcy. The law firm’s innovative approach to post-bankruptcy credit rebuilding is designed to help clients rebuild their credit scores and regain financial independence quickly.

Bankruptcy can be a complex and stressful process, often leaving individuals with damaged credit scores and a sense of uncertainty about their financial future. The team at WantAFreshStart understands the difficulties that clients face after filing for bankruptcy and is committed to providing personalized and effective solutions to help clients rebuild their credit and regain control of their finances.

‘At WantAFreshStart, we believe that everyone deserves a second chance. Bankruptcy is not the end of the road, and with the right guidance, our clients can recover from financial setbacks and achieve their goals,’ said a spokesperson for the law firm.

The law firm’s credit rebuilding services are designed to help clients understand the factors that affect their credit

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Albany Diocese says pension fight not why it filed for bankruptcy

SCHENECTADY — When the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany filed for Chapter 11 last week, it noted that its outstanding litigation with state Attorney General Letitia James and others over the collapse of the St. Clare’s Hospital pension plan is not the reason why it sought bankruptcy protection.

Rather, it was the more than 440 lawsuits that have been filed against the diocese under the state’s Child Victims Act since 2019 — 50 of which have been settled — that prompted the diocese to file for bankruptcy.

The diocese does acknowledge the ongoing St. Clare’s litigation, albeit briefly, in its bankruptcy papers filed March 15 in U.S. District Court in Albany.

But the papers note that the St. Clare’s cases, which have been consolidated in state Supreme Court in Schenectady for both discovery and trial, were “not a precipitating cause” of the bankruptcy as might be assumed.

In fact, the diocese went out of its way to try and assure St. Clare’s pensioners in a press release issued last week that the pension lawsuits are “not the diocese’s purpose for filing” Chapter 11, although it will have the effect of putting the pension litigation “on hold” during the bankruptcy

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