Representative Private Equity Sponsor/Director and Officer Matters

• Aeroméxico We represent certain members of the board of directors of Aeroméxico in connection with its successful restructuring.  We defended their roles against allegations and objections of plan opponents.  These directors participated as plan support parties and new investors under a plan that equitized several tranches of prepetition debt and DIP financing to emerge from a chapter 11 proceeding for Mexico’s flagship airline.
• Boardriders We represent Oaktree, the equity sponsor of Boardriders, Inc., one of the world’s largest brands of surfwear and boardsport-related equipment, as well as certain affiliated entities as lenders in NY State Court litigation related to a liquidity transaction entered into by Boardriders in August 2020.  The transaction was accomplished through an amendment of the governing debt documents with the participation of a majority of the company’s lenders and provided over $100 million to the company in the midst of the pandemic.  It also “uptiered” those participating lenders in the company’s capital structure. The challenging lenders are seeking to unwind the transaction through the litigation.  The parties are awaiting a decision on the motions to dismiss filed by the Company, the participating lenders, and Oaktree.
• C. Penney We represented William Transier and Heather Summerfield who were appointed to serve as independent directors (the “Independent Directors”) of JCP Real Estate Holdings, LLC (“RE HoldCo”), J. C. Penney Properties, LLC (“PropCo”), and J.C. Penney Purchasing Corporation(“PurchaseCo,” and with RE HoldCo and PropCo, the “Subsidiaries”).  The independent directors engaged Quinn Emanuel to investigate various intercompany transactions involving the Subsidiaries and the “operating company” (J.C. Penney Corporation, Inc.) and other affiliates relating to leases of real estate owned by PropCo; three letter agreements with PurchaseCo governing private-label merchandise sales and intellectual property; shared administrative and information-technology services; support services; and the allocation of consolidated federal income tax liability.  Ultimately, the company reached an agreement with its principal creditor constituencies to emerge from chapter 11 through an “OpCo-PropCo” structure under which Simon and Brookfield acquired the operating company and the secured lenders acquired the properties. Intercompany claims were released under the plan.
• Belk, Inc. We represented Jill Frizzley and Steven Panagos as Disinterested Directors on the Board of Directors of Belk, Inc. and Belk Parent, Inc.  The Disinterested Directors were mandated to assess whether the Board should exercise its “fiduciary out” with respect to a restructuring transaction involving the company’s lenders and equity sponsor which contemplated debt-for-equity changes and broad releases. To facilitate that analysis, we were charged with identifying and evaluating material transactions, including the leveraged buyout in December 2015, financings, the dividend distribution in September 2016, and various licensing and sourcing agreements entered into by the Company and its equity sponsor, Sycamore Partners Management, L.P. and any of Sycamore’s respective affiliates, including The Limited LLC (f/k/a Limited IP Acquisition LLC), MGF Sourcing US LLC, and Nine West Holdings, Inc.  We conducted an accelerated investigation and ultimately concluded the transaction and the related releases were in the company’s best interest given the consideration being provided under the plan.  Belk is unique because it was filed as a “one-day” bankruptcy.  Its chapter 11 plan was confirmed on the same day the case was commenced before the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.
• Intelsat S.A. We were engaged by Intelsat Jackson Holdings S.A. (“Jackson”) to act at the direction of its independent managers, Paul Keglevic and Gary Begeman. With its affiliates, including Intelsat S.A. and its subsidiaries, the company is one of the world’s largest satellite services businesses, providing a critical layer in the global communications infrastructure.  Intelsat Jackson is the operating company and most valuable within the enterprise.  The company filed for bankruptcy protection in May 2020 in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.  Jackson is the situs of value, and for that reason, Intelsat Jackson’s affiliates and their creditors tried to weaponize intercompany issues and create the specter of a “nuclear” outcome for Jackson, e.g., breaking their Luxembourg fiscal tax unity and denying Jackson access to $6.0 billion in tax attributes, e.g., net operating losses; withholding consent to Jackson’s chapter 11 plan and opposing any stand-alone plan; asserting claims they were entitled to $4.87 billion in accelerated relocation payments from the Federal Communications Commission for C-Band clearance, even though Jackson and its subsidiaries were ultimately responsible for clearing the spectrum; initiating parallel proceedings in Luxembourg, including bringing trumped-up claims relating to the company’s earlier restructuring; bring claims against Jackson based on historical intercompany transactions, e.g., note contributions and repurchases—even though Jackson distributed billions in dividends to the holding companies for which it received no value in return; and challenging the allocation of administrative expenses incurred in connection with the Debtors’ chapter 11 cases. Ultimately, these issues were settled pursuant to a chapter 11 plan, the terms of which were heavily influenced by the independent managers.
• The “Zohar Funds” The firm won a major victory for two investment funds, Zohar II 2005-1, Ltd. and Zohar III, Ltd. (the “Zohar Funds”), in a dispute with their former collateral manager, Lynn Tilton.  The immediate dispute concerned ownership and control over three Delaware corporations—FSAR Holdings, Inc., UI Acquisition Holding Co., and Glenoit Universal Ltd.—but has ramifications for dozens of other portfolio companies that are subject to the same dispute.  The Zohar Funds claimed legal and beneficial ownership of the three subject companies, and elected new directors to their boards by written consent.  Tilton refused to recognize the election, claiming that the Zohar Funds were merely record holders of equity in the companies, while she was the true beneficial owner entitled to all rights and privileges of ownership, including the right to elect their directors.  Following a six day trial before the Delaware Court of Chancery, the Court issued a 95-page Memorandum Opinion finding for the Zohar Funds on all counts.  The Court confirmed the Zohar Funds’ appointees as the rightful directors of the subject companies and rejected Tilton’s claim of beneficial ownership of the Defendant Companies as “not credible” and based upon “hindsight observations” the Court characterized as “revisionist.”
• MSR Hotel and Resorts We obtained for our clients—senior executives of Paulson & Co. Inc.—a complete and decisive dismissal of a civil complaint brought derivatively by Five Mile Capital, which sought more than $158 million in damages. The executives were directors of a portfolio entity, MSR Hotels & Resorts, Inc. This total victory made clear that our clients properly satisfied all duties and also cleared the way for MSR to successfully emerge from bankruptcy in 2014.
• Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway We represent the Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec defending against avoidance action litigation seeking to recover distributions made to the failed railroad company’s lead investors.  We have successfully obtained dismissal of all but one of the trustee’s accounts.
• G-I Holdings We were special counsel to G-I Holdings (f/k/a GAF) in estimation litigation to value hundreds of thousands of asbestos lawsuits.  We tried and won the contested confirmation hearing, defeating the objection of the United States Government, and allowing the nation’s largest roofing manufacturer to emerge from chapter 11 free of asbestos liability.  (Bankr. D.N.J.)
• Sabine Oil & Gas/First Reserve We obtained a complete victory for First Reserve in a case in which unsecured creditors were seeking standing to bring claims against  First Reserve totaling $1 billion.  First Reserve is the private equity sponsor of Sabine Oil & Gas, which filed for bankruptcy in July 2015 following its merger with Forest Oil.  Sabine’s unsecured creditors sought leave of the bankruptcy court to bring claims for fiduciary breach and aiding and abetting fiduciary breach against First Reserve and its employees who served as directors on Sabine’s board.  Typically, such motions for standing by unsecured creditors are routinely granted and rarely denied. 
• Gradient Resources We represented Gradient Resources and Patua Project in an out of court restructuring of approximately $150 million in debt. The debtors develop, design, construct, and operate clean, renewable electric power generation projects and sell baseload renewable geothermal power to utilities located in the western United States.
• Frontera Generation LLC Frontera Generation LLC and its affiliates own and operate the only U.S.-based power plant that sells all of its power to Mexico.  Those companies were owned indirectly by affiliates of The Blackstone Group Inc.  Acting at the direction of Gary Begeman and Anthony Horton, the Disinterested Directors, Quinn Emanuel undertook a thorough investigation into various transactions, including the credit-facility refinancing, dividend distributions to Blackstone affiliates, hedge positions, and intercompany supply agreements, to determine whether the estates had any causes of action related to those transactions.  Ultimately, Frontera confirmed a chapter 11 plan which contained a settlement with the Blackstone affiliates pursuant to which, among other things, they released their claims against the companies, including claims for management and transaction fees, and contributed $7.5 million in cash to the reorganized companies.
  
  

Representative Bondholder and Hedge Fund Matters

• Revlon Consumer Products On behalf of term lenders holding $900 million of loans issued by Revlon Consumer Products, we were retained in Spring 2020 to assert rights and remedies concerning Revlon’s May 2020 collateral-stripping transaction.  We asserted breach of contract, fraudulent transfer, and other tort claims against Revlon, Citibank and facilitating “BrandCo” Lenders in a ~150-page complaint in the Southern District of New York on August 12, 2020.  Unbeknownst to the term lenders, the day prior, on August 11, Citibank paid off the term loans in full, purportedly by mistake, intending only to make an unanticipated “interim interest” payment.  We immediately switched gears, defending against Citibank’s efforts to clawback its ~$900 million alleged “mistaken” payment.  Judge Furman of the S.D.N.Y. presided over this extremely high profile matter, which proceeded on an exceedingly fast track, with trial taking place between December 9-16, 2020.  In concluding the trial, Judge Furman reached outside his courtroom to issue a broader warning: “The industry should figure out a way of dealing with these things even if this was a black swan event,” he said by videoconference. “Whatever my ruling is in this case, I hope the world, the market, takes notice of what’s happened here and the uncertainties that have resulted.”  On February 16, 2021, the Court ruled in the Lenders’ favor.  The Lenders can keep the mistakenly transferred funds.  We are currently defending against Citibank’s appeal.
• Oceanografia We represent dozens of creditors of Oceanografia S.A. de C.V., Mexico’s largest oil services company, asserting claims against Citigroup and KPMG for over $1.1 billion in damages in connection with their culpable conduct in aiding and/or allowing the collapse and bankruptcy of their client Oceanografia in a massive fraud.
• Intralot We represent a group of the beneficial holders of certain 2024 notes issued by the Greek gaming concern Intralot in connection with the group’s opposition to a July 2021 exchange offer.  Our clients opposed the exchange offer because it granted preferential treatment to the holders of a different series of notes that matured in 2021 at the expense of the 2024 group by offering the 2021 noteholders the ability to exchange their notes for a new preferential series of notes to be secured by the assets and equity of Intralot US, which is the crown jewel of the Intralot Enterprise that generates over 70% of the Intralot enterprise’s EBITDA and earnings and to which the 2024 group would otherwise have recourse.  The matter is the subject of an action pending in the Southern District of New York, in which the plaintiffs assert claims under New York’s Uniform Voidable Transactions Act.  The firm directed the replacement of the Trustee on the 2024 notes who has brought claims asserting breach of the governing indenture.
• Valaris/Rowan Valaris/Rowan is one of the world’s largest offshore drilling companies.  We represented the holders of nearly $1.4 billion in notes issued by Rowan in fraudulent transfer litigation and the debtors’ subsequent chapter 11 cases.  Through our efforts, our clients were able to receive substantial recoveries under the Valaris/Rowan plan and play a leading role in the debtors’ postbankruptcy capital structure.
• LATAM Airlines We represented the largest bondholder in successfully defeating the debtors’ proposed debtor-in-possession financing by persuading the bankruptcy court that the financing unlawfully dictated the terms of a chapter 11 plan, following a multi-day trial.  This result was not only rare for any reorganization case, it is the only financing successfully stopped during the global pandemic of 2020-2021.  After prevailing, we represented our client in negotiating a consensual and fair financing in which they participated.
• Province of Entre Ríos We were retained by an ad hoc group of Province of Entre Ríos bondholders, holding approximately 58% of outstanding 8.750% Notes due 2025 issued by the Province of Entre Ríos, to advise and represent them in connection with any proposed restructuring of the notes or litigation against the Province of Entre Ríos.  We successfully negotiated amendments to the terms of the Province’s U.S. $500 million aggregate principal amount of outstanding notes, which are reflected in the Province’s consent solicitation which was announced in February 2022.
• In re GenOn Energy We represented an ad hoc group of GenOn Americas (“GAG”) bondholders, holding approximately $700 million in bonds.  We were retained to commence an action when GenOn Inc. threatened a transaction that would have stripped GAG of considerable value for the benefit of GenOn Inc.’s creditors.  As a result of our retention, the transaction was shelved and GenOn filed for bankruptcy on June 14, 2017.  In the bankruptcy, we negotiated a largely consensual chapter 11 plan that paid our clients 92% of the principal amount of their bonds, plus a 9% “ticking fee.”  The plan was confirmed on December 14, 2017.
• In re Jupiter Resources We represented a majority group of bondholders in out of court restructuring of more than $1 billion of debt issued by Jupiter Resources, an Apollo-owned Canadian-based E&P company.  This was a cross-border matter of significant size and complexity that threatened to derail into expensive litigation with Apollo, but was instead restructured successfully with minimal judicial process.
• TriMark USA, LLC We represented TriMark USA, LLC, the largest restaurant supply company in the U.S., in NY State Court litigation brought by certain of its lenders against the company and certain other lenders who participated in a liquidity transaction entered into by the company during the pandemic.  The transaction raised liquidity for the company in the fall of 2020 and “uptiered” certain participating lenders in the company’s capital structure.  The litigation was resolved through a settlement among the plaintiff-lenders, the participating lenders, and the Company in January 2022, allowing the company to simplify its capital structure and move forward with its business plan with the support of its lenders.
• Solus Alternative Asset Management We represented Solus Alternative Asset Management LP against GSO Capital Partners (“GSO”) and Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. (“Hovnanian), in a suit arising from GSO’s agreement to lend money to Hovnanian in exchange for Hovnanian agreeing to default on a portion of its debt.  The default would trigger a credit event on credit default swaps, which would require Solus to pay millions of dollars in payments and would yield GSO millions of dollars in CDS payments.  In addition, certain aspects of the transaction between GSO and Hovnanian were explicitly designed to set the price of the payout required from Solus in the case of a credit event.  Solus alleged that this agreement violated Sections 10(b) and 14(e) of the Securities Exchange Act and that GSO had tortiously interfered with Solus’s prospective economic advantage.  The case settled, and as part of the settlement, Hovnanian cured the agreed-upon default, thereby avoiding the threatened credit event.
• Caesars Entertainment We represented UMB Bank, as indenture trustee for Caesars’ first lien bondholders, in a Delaware Chancery Court action against Caesars and its senior officers and directors.  We successfully obtained an expedited schedule for the appointment of a receiver for the company, which led to a settlement that is being implemented in Caesars’ chapter 11 bankruptcy.
• Commonwealth of Puerto Rico/COFINA We have been active participants in the Commonwealth’s “Title 3” case under PROMESA (Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act).
  
  We represented holders of over $5 billion in Puerto Rico’s “COFINA” municipal bonds backed by sales taxes in a dispute with Puerto Rico and the creditors of Puerto Rico who alleged our pledge of sales taxes was invalid and unconstitutional.  We engineered a court-approved settlement that gave our clients over 93% recovery plus expenses while simultaneously shedding $6 billion in debt for the benefit of Puerto Rico’s future generations.
  
  We represented holders of over $5 billion in Puerto Rico’s “COFINA” municipal bonds backed by sales taxes in a dispute with Puerto Rico and the creditors of Puerto Rico who alleged our pledge of sales taxes was invalid and unconstitutional.  We engineered a court-approved settlement that gave our clients over 93% recovery plus expenses while simultaneously shedding $6 billion in debt for the benefit of Puerto Rico’s future generations.
  
  We also represented the holders of more than $2 billion in bonds issued by the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and its Public Buildings Authority.  We again were able to negotiate a successful arrangement that provided our clients with significant recoveries under the Commonwealth’s confirmed plan.

• LINN Energy/Berry Petroleum We represented an ad hoc group of bondholders issued by Berry Petroleum holding approximately 80% of the unsecured debt issued by Berry, the wholly-owned subsidiary of LINN Energy, in LINN and Berry’s chapter 11 cases.  We successfully thwarted LINN’s attempt to effectuate a so-called “Berry Consolidation” and stood Berry up, once again, as an independent E&P company. 
• BioMed Realty We represented some of the largest insurance companies in the United States in connection with their bond investments in BioMed Realty, specifically in connection with Blackstone’s acquisition of the company.
• Delphi Auto We represented holders of unsecured claims Solus Alternative Asset Management LP, Angelo Gordon & Co, and certain funds affiliated with Highland Capital in litigation against Delphi Automotive LLP and Delphi Automotive PLC seeking to compel more than $300 million in distributions under their chapter 11 plan.
• Nortel Networks We represent Solus Alternative Asset Management and PointState Capital LP in connection with their investment in Nortel Networks Capital Corporation, a chapter 11 debtor in Delaware.
• Twin River We represented Solus Alternative Asset Management LP and Wingspan Capital in connection with their equity investment in Twin River Worldwide casinos, formerly a chapter 11 debtor in Rhode Island. 
• Peabody Energy Corp We represented Peabody Energy Corporation as special counsel in its chapter 11 cases specifically in disputes in a lawsuit against its pre-petition secured and unsecured lenders, Citibank, N.A. (administrative agent to certain first-lien lenders) and Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB (trustee with respect to certain second-lien notes) concerning the scope of the prepetition secured lenders’ collateral packages (e.g., “Principal Properties” disputes or the “CNTA Dispute.”)  Peabody challenged the extent to which Peabody’s first-lien and second-lien indebtedness is collateralized by “Principal Property,” that is, certain real property located in the United States (including mines and reserves)) and argued that the amount of that debt is subject to a cap (the “Principal Property Cap”) and that the Principal Property Cap is no greater than $505 million. Citibank and Wilmington asserted counterclaims alleging the Principal Property Cap is an amount no less than $1.38 billion.  Following discovery on an expedited trial track, the parties submitted cross-motions for summary judgment.  The CNTA Dispute ultimately was settled pursuant to Peabody’s chapter 11 plan.
• Essar Algoma We represented an ad hoc group of first lien bond holders in connection with Algoma’s Canadian CCAA and United States chapter 15 proceedings.  We successfully defeated the monitor’s plan to zero out our clients and negotiated for a meaningful ownership interest in reorganized Algoma. 
• Essar Steel Minnesota We represented US Bank as administrative agent for first-lien, term loan lenders in connection with this troubled iron-ore project and ESML’s inevitable restructuring.  We successfully navigated a very difficult case and supported a plan that was confirmed when no one thought it was possible.  In connection with the chapter 11 case, we won a dispute over a first lien intra-creditor agreement, establishing that U.S. Term Lenders were authorized to object in bankruptcy to $150 million claim of certain pari passu secured creditors.  More importantly, we pursued the lenders’ guaranty claim against ESML’s parent—Essar Global Fund Limited—around the globe, UK, BVI, Cayman and Mauritius, resulting in a confidential settlement that was a major success.
• OCZ Technology We represented an ad hoc group of second lien bondholders in connection with OCZ’s chapter 11 case.  We successfully steered the administration of the bondholders’ collateral, resulting in a near par recovery after the debtor forecast recoveries of approximately 25%. 

Representative Creditors’ Committee/Litigation Trust Matters

• Lehman Brothers We represented the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (“LBHI”) as lead counsel litigating LBHI’s objections to claims by Citibank, N.A. and affiliates (“Citibank”) related to the close-out and valuation of tens of thousands of derivatives following Lehman’s bankruptcy in September 2008. Under governing ISDA Master Agreements, Lehman’s trading counterparties were directed to determine the value of their derivatives trades following Lehman’s bankruptcy.  LBHI’s objections sought a significant reduction to the amounts claimed by Citibank, which totaled more than $2 billion, relating to approximately thirty thousand derivatives trades on a variety of grounds including that Citibank failed to act in a commercially reasonable manner when valuing the derivatives in question.  Quinn Emanuel engaged in almost five years of fact and expert discovery involving more than 1.4 million documents, thirty expert witnesses, and approximately 170 fact and expert depositions in addition to briefing summary judgment and pre-trial motions.  After 42 days of trial over the course of four months, at around the expected halfway point in trial, LBHI announced that it had reached a settlement with Citibank that will return $1.74 billion to Lehman’s creditors.  On October 13, 2017, the Bankruptcy Court approved the settlement.
• Residential Capital As lead counsel for the ResCap Liquidating Trust, we brought actions against approximately 90 mortgage originators, which had sold defective mortgage loans to ResCap to be securitized into RMBS trusts.  Two of the cases have gone to trial, both resulting in large judgments for the Trust.  To date, we have recovered more than $1.3 billion in judgments and settlements for ResCap’s creditors.  Our representation of the Trust helped to establish a growing plaintiff-friendly body of RMBS caselaw.  In addition, ResCap creditors, represented by our firm, played a critical role in the chapter 11 case and the court-ordered global mediation with the Debtors, Ally Financial, and most of the other major creditor constituencies.  On behalf of our clients and similarly situated claimants, we negotiated a settlement of $235 million to be allocated among twenty-one parties holding securities claims against Ally and ResCap.  This settlement was embodied in a plan support agreement that was implemented through the Debtors’ chapter 11 plan following a hotly contested confirmation.
• Core Media Litigation Trust After representing the largest holder of first lien and second lien loans, we were retained to represent the Litigation Trust formed pursuant to the Chapter 11 Plan for Core Media (American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance) to investigate and pursue claims against former directors and officers and affiliates of Apollo Global Management.
• Petro Hunter Energy Company We have been appointed by Jeffrey Hill, the Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee of Petro Hunter Energy Company, to represent the group’s non-insolvent subsidiaries in Australia.  The US bankruptcy trustee estimates Petro Hunter Energy Company’s assets (primarily comprising a number of fracking interests in Australia), are valued at approximately $300 million.
• Pier 1 We represented the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in Pier 1, which was filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.  As Committee Counsel, our attorneys represented a diverse committee comprised of landlords, vendors, and shippers, and was able to drive consensus while being on the forefront of retail-related COVID-19 store closures.  This required strategic thinking and top-notch negotiating and litigation skills to effectively deal with extensive store closures during the massive fall-out from one of the worst pandemics this country has ever seen.  After the case pivoted from a sale to a liquidation, we were instrumental in bringing together all key stakeholders to reach a global settlement that provided for, among other things, a waiver of preference claims against unsecured creditors, protections for landlords, as well as a significant pay-out to administrative creditors, ahead of even some significant secured lenders. Significantly, this global settlement led to the confirmation of one of the first post-COVID Chapter 11 Plans. Judge Huennekens praised counsel for the Committee and the Debtors by stating the settlement and plan confirmation, “averted an absolute disaster here, given what is going on in our country right now” and the “economic tsunami that is bound to follow… This opportunity to wind this up and see payments get made is absolutely spectacular.”
• Shiloh Industries We served as lead counsel to the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the automotive bankruptcy case of Shiloh Industries, Inc., which was filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.  Shiloh Industries is a global innovative solutions provider focusing on lightweighting technologies that provide environmental and safety benefits to the mobility market. In our role as counsel to the Committee, we served a critical role in facilitating a global resolution to the case, which preserved value for unsecured creditors while facilitating a sale of the business, even though secured creditors were not paid in full.
• Physiotherapy We represented the PAH Litigation Trust, formed pursuant to the bankruptcy of Physiotherapy Associates, Inc.  We represented the Trust in a variety of in- court and out-of-court investigation and recovery efforts against the company’s former advisors, underwriters, auditors, and private equity owners that sponsored the LBO that preceded the company’s collapse, recovering over $100 million for the trust.
• SemGroup We represented the SemGroup Litigation Trust in various actions against the company’s former officers and directors, its largest equity holders, and against PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP, its outside auditor.  After asserting fraudulent transfer, breach of fiduciary duty, and professional malpractice claims in the bankruptcy court and in Oklahoma state court and after defeating several summary judgment motions by PwC, the case settled on confidential terms shortly before trial.
• Advanta We represented FTI as the liquidating trustee for Advanta Corp., objecting to more than $60 million in claims asserted by Advanta’s former CEO and CFO, which threatened to significantly dilute the returns to Advanta’s general unsecured creditors. By asserting affirmative claims on behalf of the estate, and participating in a mediation conducted by the Honorable Robert D. Drain, the liquidating trust caused the former officers to walk away with no estate recoveries. This was an amazing result for Advanta’s creditors, who have recovered as much as 86 cents on the dollar.
• Petters Co., Inc. We represented one of the largest creditors in the third largest Ponzi scheme case in US history (after Madoff and Stanford).  We proposed a chapter 11 plan, which we prosecuted and confirmed in connection with the chapter 11 trustee, Doug Kelly.  We now represent the liquidating trust in connection with the estate’s big ticket avoidance actions.    
• The Colonial BancGroup We represented the post-bankruptcy plan trustee for Colonial BancGroup, the second largest savings and thrift failure ever. We represented CBG in litigation against the FDIC as receiver for Colonial Bank, CBG’s former banking subsidiary, and BB&T Corp. concerning ownership disputes over more than $650 million in assets.
  
  

Representative Contract Counterparty/Asset Acquisition Matters:

• Midway Gold We represented Barrick Gold in the sale of its joint venture in a mining project with Midway Gold, a chapter 11 debtor.  Our efforts were instrumental in ensuring that Barrick received maximum value for its interest and that the transaction was consistent with the company’s efforts to sell other mining assets in the United States.
• SandRidge Energy We were retained to represent Occidental Petroleum in connection with a prepetition settlement and acquisition of oil and gas leases and subsequent participation in the SandRidge chapter 11 case in the Southern District of Texas.