Attorneys
PSZJ’s Representation of Creditors’ Committee in Professional Financial Investors, Inc. Bankruptcy Covered in Bloomberg Law
Bloomberg Law recently covered the firm’s involvement in the chapter 11 bankruptcy of Professional Financial Investors, Inc. (PFI) and its primary fund, Professional Investors Security Fund in an article entitled “Ponzi Scheme Victims Unite, Steer Bankruptcy to Help Each Other.” John Fiero and Debra Grassgreen are the principal PSZJ attorneys handling this matter and represent the official committee of unsecured creditors, which consists of investors defrauded by the debtors’ financial misconduct and operation of a complex and long-running Ponzi scheme. In an outstanding result, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California granted PFI consensual confirmation of its chapter 11 plan on May 27, 2021, successfully settling victims’ claims.
Unlike the majority of bankruptcy cases in which creditors compete for limited assets, this case was unique in that the creditors coordinated with each other early on in the bankruptcy for the benefit of all of the victims. The creditors’ cooperation and coordination of weekly Q&A sessions, which allowed victims to share questions and obtain answers in a safe environment, has since inspired PSZJ’s approach towards its representation of abuse survivors in the bankruptcy of the Boy Scouts of America.
“They’ve created a community, bonded by this terrible experience they’ve all been through, and they’ve all helped each other,” Ms. Grassgreen told Bloomberg Law. “They started it, we continued it through, and it has worked.”
The full Bloomberg Law article can be found here.