bankruptcy court

Ex-law firm partner pleads guilty to bankruptcy fraud
Signage is seen at the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan, New York City

Signage is seen at the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., August 24, 2020. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly Acquire Licensing Rights

Sept 12 (Reuters) – A former partner at three major law firms pleaded guilty on Tuesday to making false statements in U.S. bankruptcy court in an effort to keep his multi-million dollar house and luxury sports car, the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

John Roesser, 52, a former international arbitration lawyer who practiced as a partner at law firms Alston & Bird, Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer and Dechert from 2013 to 2018, could face up to five years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of false oaths and claims in bankruptcy.

Roesser’s attorney, Mark Cohen of Cohen, Frankel & Ruggiero, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Prosecutors said Roesser made false statements in his own personal bankruptcy proceedings in an effort to hold onto his assets, including his house and an Aston Martin luxury sports car, despite owing more than $3 million in unpaid income taxes.

“The defendant — who used to be a lawyer and knew exactly what he was doing —

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September 15, 2023 by ATTORNEY

Job offer, $150,000 check for Madera hospital CEO was not a ‘bribe,’ lawyer tells judge

Addressing a federal judge, a lawyer representing a Modesto-based hospital management company stressed that his client back in May wasn’t trying to “bribe” a Central San Joaquin Valley hospital executive when they handed her a $150,000 check and a job offer amid negotiations.

Hamid Rafatjoo, a partner with Raines Feldman Littrell LLP and lawyer for American Advanced Management Inc., told U.S. Judge René Lastreto II over Zoom in court on Tuesday that his client wasn’t trying to gain competitive advantage in a bidding process to take over operations of bankrupt Madera Community Hospital.

“Obviously, there were better ways of handling that process,” Rafatjoo said, “but it didn’t come from a place of trying to bribe anyone.”

“My client did what it did,” he said, adding that the actions took place before he was retained.

A business law expert contacted by The Bee said there was nothing illegal about the offer, though it looks “irregular” and “awkward” and the circumstances suggest it should have been fully disclosed in bankruptcy court.

Rafatjoo also took the opportunity Tuesday to tell the judge that AAMI’s offer to take over operations of Madera Community Hospital was superior to the current proposed partner and that

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September 14, 2023 by ATTORNEY

3 California Hospitals Declared Bankruptcy This Year. Health Chains Could Keep Them Alive

Madera is also awaiting another $5 million in state funding that was granted in last year’s budget but placed on hold when the hospital closed.

In a letter outlining its terms (PDF), Adventist Health said it will require at least $55 million to fund staffing, supplies, maintenance, training and services in the first year, and another $30 million in the second year. Madera Community Hospital would have to pay Adventist a management fee.

In exchange, the health system would provide its management expertise and personnel to support Madera’s reopening. According to the proposal, Adventist would have the option to purchase the hospital after three years.

Empty building covered with a tarp.
Outlines of the Madera Community Hospital sign being covered by a tarp at the Emergency Room entrance of the hospital on Jan. 2, 2023. Madera County Sheriff Tyson Pogue announced a state of emergency for the county when the hospital shut its doors due to bankruptcy. (Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local)

Paolinelli said a management agreement is the hospital’s best bet at reopening. It has not found a buyer for a straightforward sale. Paolinelli said she has not discussed with Adventist whether she will stay on as head of the hospital.

Adventist Health has experience

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August 23, 2023 by ATTORNEY

Estes enters as serious financial backer in Yellow bankruptcy

Yellow Corp. has received an offer from rival less-than-truckload giant Estes Express Lines that would fund its short-term efforts to wind down its operations via Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. An attorney for Nashville-based Yellow, which was No. 6 on the 2023 for-hire FleetOwner 500, said on Aug. 11 that the Estes Express “financing proposal [had] continued to gel” late last week.

Richmond, Virginia-based Estes Express (No. 11 on the for-hire FleetOwner 500) surfaced earlier last week as a possible source of so-called debtor-in-possession (DIP) funding for Yellow, which filed for protection from its creditors on Aug. 6 and is looking to sell off its equipment and real estate in the next two months. Yellow has an estimated $1.5 billion in debt, but its assets to sell are substantial: 12,700 tractors (about 1,000 of them leased) as well as 42,000 trailers (of which 7,200 are leased), 169 terminals, and six warehouses run by its Yellow Logistics subsidiary. And the entry of rival Estes Express as a financial backer has introduced complications and interest in the fate of Yellow’s holdings.

See also: Fleet failures playing role in fueling used-truck market surge

Yellow executives and their attorneys have said since filing Chapter 11

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August 18, 2023 by ATTORNEY

Sandy Hook Families Say Alex Jones Cannot Hide Behind Bankruptcy

Lawyers for the Sandy Hook families who won historic defamation damages against the Infowars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones told a federal bankruptcy judge in Houston on Tuesday that Mr. Jones should not be allowed to use his Chapter 11 filing to evade $1 billion-plus verdicts made against him.

The families asked that the judge, Christopher Lopez, order Mr. Jones to pay them the full damage awards, with no possibility of a trial or a forced settlement over a lesser amount — in legal terminology, to make Mr. Jones’s debts to the families “non-dischargeable” through bankruptcy. If the judge rules in the families’ favor, Mr. Jones would likely be working the rest of his life to pay the debt.

Mr. Jones spent years spreading lies that the 2012 shooting that killed 20 first graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., was a hoax aimed at gun control. Families of 10 victims sued him for defamation, and in trials in Texas and Connecticut were awarded about $1.4 billion in damages. As the cases went to trial, Infowars declared bankruptcy, and Mr. Jones declared personal bankruptcy late last year.

The families have been fighting him in bankruptcy court

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August 16, 2023 by ATTORNEY
May 2024
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