Infowars lawyer, manager barred from bankruptcy case over conflicts

Alex Jones attempts to answer questions about his emails asked by Mark Bankston, lawyer for Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, during trial at the Travis County Courthouse, Austin, Texas, U.S., August 3, 2022. Briana Sanchez/Pool via REUTERS

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(Reuters) – A U.S. bankruptcy judge on Tuesday blocked a restructuring executive and an attorney from working for Infowars’ bankrupt parent company over a conflict of interest, potentially throwing the bankruptcy case and the company’s daily operations into disarray.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez in Houston found that Marc Schwartz, chief restructuring officer of Infowars parent Free Speech Systems LLC, and attorney Kyung Lee failed to disclose that they sought work from Free Speech Systems before the conclusion of earlier Infowars bankruptcies.

The judge raised the conflicts issue because he presided over the earlier Infowars bankruptcies and was concerned about the apparent overlap of work. The judge said the two men showed a “lack of candor” regarding the overlap and other matters. The judge also said the problem was compounded by Schwartz’s tendency to defer to Alex Jones and his other companies instead of advocating on behalf of FSS alone.

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September 26, 2022 by ATTORNEY

Lawyers for Celsius investors file motion to have interests represented in court

An international law firm representing groups of Celsius investors has filed a motion to appoint a committee to represent their interests in the crypto lending firm’s bankruptcy case.

In a Thursday filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York, lawyers with the law firm Milbank requested the appointment of an “Official Preferred Equity Committee” to represent certain Celsius shareholders. According to the filing, the equity holders “urgently require their own fiduciary” for representation in court alongside Celsius debtors and an Unsecured Creditors Committee, or UCC.

“The need for a fiduciary to pursue the Equity Holders’ interests is particularly critical when one considers the practical realities of these cases: There are only two groups of real economic stakeholders — the retail customers and the Equity Holders,” said the court filing. “Not only is the UCC laser focused on maximizing value for the customers, without regard for the Equity Holders, but the Debtors also have made it abundantly clear that the UCC is their partner, and these cases are ‘all about the customer.’”

The legal team added:

“An estate fiduciary is needed to take the other side of this dispute before a plan of reorganization is

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September 25, 2022 by ATTORNEY

Executive bonuses at opioid firm Endo were ‘excessive’ and ‘secret’ before bankruptcy, state AGs say

Seven state attorneys general and a court-appointed bankruptcy federal watchdog are opposing up to $94 million in pre-bankruptcy bonuses paid to top executives and other insiders at opioid drug firm Endo International in Chester County, court documents show.

The bonuses to the highest executives were doled out in “secret” and drain financial resources of the money-losing Endo available for victims of the Malvern company’s addictive pills, according to state attorneys general who filed their objections as a committee on Wednesday in New York.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro is one of the seven whose court filing called the top executive pre-bankruptcy bonuses “excessive.”

Endo, facing mounds of litigation over its alleged role in the national opioid crisis, filed for bankruptcy protection on Aug. 16. The Inquirer first reported on the bonuses days later.

U.S. Trustee William Harrington, the watchdog, said in a separate court filing earlier this month that Endo paid $94 million in bonuses to top executives and other insiders in the months prior to the bankruptcy filing, while Endo’s restructuring plan leaves only $27.4 million initially for individual opioid victims who are not state entities.

Endo has “provided virtually no information, much less sufficient information” to evaluate the

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September 24, 2022 by ATTORNEY

Brown Rudnick EU bankruptcy leader jumps to Squire in five-lawyer London move

Signage is seen outside of the law firm Squire Patton Boggs in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 30, 2020. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

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(Reuters) – Squire Patton Boggs said Tuesday that it has hired a five-member bankruptcy team from Brown Rudnick in London that includes the firm’s European restructuring practice leader, Charlotte Møller.

The hires come as Squire Patton Boggs anticipates an increase in restructuring work amid “higher levels of stress across many industries,” its global restructuring and insolvency practice chair Stephen Lerner said in a statement.

This is at least the third group hire this year for Squire Patton Boggs in Europe, including the additions of a four-attorney white collar team and a six-member data privacy team.

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Møller advises on domestic and cross-border restructurings primarily in the shipping, airline, energy and natural resources industries, according to an archived Brown Rudnick bio.

She also represents clients on the enforcement of security over UK assets, particularly in the sale and purchase of non-performing loan portfolios, Squire Patton Boggs said.

Møller is joined in London by partner Monika Lorenzo-Perez, director Helena Clarke and senior associates Rebecca Terrace

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September 21, 2022 by ATTORNEY
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