Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
Dallas entrepreneur Sam Wyly testified Friday that he filed for bankruptcy to force the Internal Revenue Service to “put up or shut up.” The 81-year-old former owner of Michaels Stores
The widow of Charles Wyly testified Wednesday that she knew nothing about the business dealings of her deceased husband and his family, including any knowledge about the offshore trusts the
The bankruptcy trial Dallas entrepreneur Sam Wyly and his sister-in-law Dee Wyly starts Wednesday. Billions of dollars are at stake. Each side plans to call up to three-dozen witnesses. The IRS says it will introduce 1,270 exhibits, while lawyers for the Wylys have another 837. U.S. Bankruptcy Chief Judge Barbara Houser has set aside four weeks to decide how much the Wylys owe in back taxes, fines and penalties for allegedly hiding hundreds of millions of dollars in trusts on the Isle of Man.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Sontchi ruled Thursday that Energy Future Holdings can move ahead on breaking up the company, setting the stage for Texas’ largest power company to emerge from bankruptcy court in the spring. The ruling effectively ends a fight among hedge funds and Wall Street tycoons that just six months ago appeared as if it might drag out for years.
Energy Future Holdings seeks a fresh start in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., today, arguing that breaking up the company offers it and its creditors the best chance to move on with the least possible financial pain. The trial is expected to run through at least the end of the month, pitting rival attorneys against one another in a bid to extract the most value they can from $40 billion in outstanding debts. The Dallas Morning News and The Texas Lawbook are following the case closely.
A Houston appeals court ruled Tuesday that a lower trial court must consider whether an insurance company breached its duty to a former Superior Offshore International executive when it refused to provide certain coverage the executive claimed was included in the director-and-insurer policy.
Energy Future Holdings is spending more than $600,000 a day – including weekends and holidays – in legal and financial advisory fees and expenses as part of its restructuring efforts in federal bankruptcy court, putting the case on track to be one of the costliest bankruptcies in U.S. history. Since filing for reorganization under Chapter 11 in April 2014, lawyers and financial advisers have charged EFH $230 million through June 1. More than 50 lawyers, including 29 from Kirkland, are charging EFH more than $1,000 an hour.
The justices ruled that lawyers who vigorously fight with their own clients in bankruptcy court over legal fees cannot seek reimbursement for the time they spent battling over those fees – even if the bankruptcy judge rules the lawyers did a great job and deserve the money.
A federal bankruptcy judge gave Dallas entrepreneur Sam Wyly approval Wednesday to put his family’s 244-acre Aspen ranch up for sale for $50 million. Wyly said he needs to sell the ranch now in order to take advantage of increased real estate prices and strong demand in the marketplace.
Nine years ago, Forbes put Dallas entrepreneur Sam Wyly net worth at $1.1 billion. His business savvy created tens of thousands of jobs and put billions of dollars into the pockets of investors. Charities benefited to the tune of $67 million. Today, Wyly is in bankruptcy. The SEC wants $198 million. He's paid lawyers more than $100 million. And the IRS wants whatever is left. The Texas Lawbook has an exclusive interview with Wyly and his legal team about the litigation, auctioning off the family's assets and Sam Wyly's future.
Dallas entrepreneur and philanthropist Sam Wyly has hired former Stanford Law School Dean Kathleen Sullivan to lead his legal efforts to reverse a New York jury decision last May that he and his deceased brother, Charles, violated federal securities laws involving trusts they established in the Isle of Man more than two decades ago.
Radio Shack is the latest in a growing number of financially troubled North Texas corporations, including Energy Future Holdings and American Airlines, to go outside the state to restructure its business operations. General counsel for the companies that snubbed Texas bankruptcy courts say they did so because the judges in Delaware and the Southern District of New York are more experienced and more predictable in handling large complex corporate restructurings. But legal experts say none of it is true.
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