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>Return to Main Practice Areas
Examiners
In re Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities
In 2004, Sam Maizel was appointed, pursuant to a request of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, to serve as the examiner in the bankruptcy cases of Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities and Summit Securities, two financial services companies with more than $3.5 billion in debt and facing significant allegations of financial fraud. Sam's team, including the firm's attorneys Jeremy Richards and Jonathan Kim and forensic accountants, published two voluminous reports in six months, on time and within budget. The reports were the subject of compliments by opposing parties and the bankruptcy judge alike.
In re Weingarten
Led by Jeremy Richards and Jonathan Kim, the firm is counsel to David K. Gottlieb, the examiner appointed in the chapter 11 case of Palomba Weingarten, currently pending in the Central District of California. The debtor owns and manages several companies related to a residential development project located in San Diego, California, commonly referred to as the "Pointe." The examiner was appointed, among other things, to analyze whether the debtor and her spouse have a valid and enforceable interspousal transmutation agreement and to investigate the debtor's conduct of her businesses. With the assistance and counsel of the firm's attorneys, the examiner prepared and submitted a comprehensive report on the interspousal agreement issues (this report numbering over 140 pages and supported by over 1,500 pages of exhibits) and an extensive report on various financial/accounting matters. These reports involved the investigation and analysis of complex legal and factual issues that may impact the ultimate resolution of this chapter 11 case.
In re DVI, Inc.
Led by Jeremy Richards, Jonathan Kim, and a team of the firm's attorneys, the firm served as counsel to R. Todd Neilson, the examiner appointed in In re DVI, Inc., a chapter 11 case pending in Delaware. The debtors were specialty finance companies that (i) extended loans and lease financing to healthcare providers for sophisticated medical equipment such as MRI units, CT scanners, and other diagnostic machinery and (ii) pooled and transferred such loans and related contracts and receivables to special purpose entities that, in turn, issued securities to investors. Prepetition, the DVI group had issued billions of dollars worth of such asset-based securities. With the assistance and counsel of the firm's attorneys, the examiner conducted a comprehensive investigation into the debtors' business and accounting practices; allegations of fraud, mismanagement, and misconduct by the debtors' management; and potential claims against former and/or current directors and officers. This investigation spanned several months. It entailed the review and analysis of complex issues and a voluminous evidentiary record, as well as coordination and cooperation with various governmental agencies, including the U.S. Attorneys' Office and the SEC, culminating in the preparation and submission of a comprehensive examiner's report, detailing an assortment of improper or suspect activities.
In re Polaroid Corporation
Dean Ziehl was co-counsel for the examiner in In re Polaroid Corporation, pending in Delaware. Polaroid and its related debtors were the leading instant imaging company in the world and the only manufacturer of traditional silver-halide, or chemical-based, instant cameras and film in the United States. The examiner was appointed to, among other things, (a) investigate whether Polaroid's accounting practices or irregularities materially undervalued Polaroid's assets and/or resulted in an inappropriate liquidation of Polaroid's assets, and (b) review financial information prepared by Polaroid, the creditors' committee, Polaroid's secured lenders, certain shareholders that petitioned for an examiner, certain equity partners, and other Polaroid parties in interest.