Clingman & Hanger Management Associates, LLC and Amini LLC today announced the approval of a settlement agreement with the US Department of Education (DOE), clearing the way for a final resolution of the complex bankruptcy of FCC Holdings, Inc. Prior to its 2014 bankruptcy, FCC operated 41 for-profit schools under the trade names Florida Career Colleges and Anthem Schools.
Go to articleRead more...A former for-profit college operator settled with the U.S. Department of Education for $8 million as part of the company’s bankruptcy case, attorneys announced last week. The settlement is the final step in a years-long case that began after FCC Holdings Inc. was accused of predrawing federal financial aid dollars based on enrollment projections that never materialized. FCC Holdings used to operate 41 for-profit colleges under names including Florida Career Colleges and Anthem Education. It sold several of those colleges to another owner that continues to operate them. FCC Holdings closed other campuses when it filed for bankruptcy protection in 2014.
Go to articleRead more...The Appeal published an article (https://theappeal.org/advocates-hope-new-momentum-around-racial-justice-will-accelerate-new-yorks-plans-to-limit-solitary-confinement/) written by Victoria Law about the continued use of solitary confinement across New York State prisons, despite support in both houses of the state legislature for the passage of the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term (HALT) Solitary Confinement Act, which would cap the maximum stay in solitary at fifteen days. Instead of passing the HALT Act last year, Governor Andrew Cuomo and legislative leaders had agreed to implement “administrative regulations,” which advocates claim are “woefully inadequate” and have still not been implemented a year later. While fifteen percent of the New York population is Black, 57 percent of those held in solitary in the state are Black. Anisah Sabur, a HALT Solitary organizer and survivor of solitary confinement, said, “We should also be standing up for the Black lives that are currently incarcerated.”
Go to articleRead more...By the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019, which became effective February 1, 2020, a new Subchapter V was added to Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code, which relieves debtors of certain requirements, with the intention of streamlining Chapter 11 cases for small business debtors with debt below a specified threshold. (Under the CARES Act, the threshold was increased from approximately $2.73 million to $7.5 million, until March 21, 2021.)
Go to articleRead more...A New York federal bankruptcy judge on Monday recommended a judgment of $41.8 million against distressed-debt maverick Lynn Tilton after a bench trial in a Chapter 7 trustee's adversary case over the collapse of ambulance company TransCare Corp.U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Stuart M. Bernstein also levied a $39.2 million judgment against Tilton's private equity firm Patriarch Partners Agency Services LLC, finding that it accepted TransCare collateral with the intent to hinder and delay TransCare's creditors and avoid the strict foreclosure of its most valuable assets.
Go to articleRead more...The founder and CEO of Authentic Brands Group submitted the winning bid late Tuesday to purchase Brooks Brothers for $325 million.Jamie Salter doesn’t like to lose.The founder and chief executive officer of Authentic Brands Group has created a $12 billion business in a decade, rounding up a stable of well-known fashion brands including Barneys New York, Forever21, Juicy Couture, Nautica, Aéropostale, Volcom, Spyder, Prince, Neil Lane and myriad other labels.
Go to articleRead more...Federal criminal investigators this week charged a former Novato businessman of operating a massive Ponzi scheme, defrauding more than a thousand investors and embezzling tens of millions of dollars to personally enrich himself.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and U.S.Attorney’s Office alleged this week that the late Kenneth Casey and his business associate, Lewis Wallach, were coconspirators who intentionally defrauded 1,300 individuals who invested in their two Novato real estate investments companies, Professional Financial Investors Inc., or PFI, and its associated fund, Professional Investors Security Fund Inc., or PISF.
Go to articleRead more...The list of bankruptcy filings in the fashion and retail space continues to grow longer with each passing day, so much so that some are beginning to wonder: are they banking on Chapter 11 filings as the way out of 2020’s unending pressures?In some cases, maybe. In others, maybe not. But companies wondering whether they should file and take advantage of the process might want to think twice before taking the plunge.Once a company files for bankruptcy, there’s no going back. They’ll be obliged to abide by certain rules that, in some cases, can be onerous. Bankruptcy is still the restructuring tool it always was—it should not be considered the new fashion strategy to evade the pandemic’s impact.
Go to articleRead more...In 1996, cell phones weren’t quite a thing. Students didn’t type essays on laptops, or anywhere other than a stationary computer or even a typewriter. Bill Clinton was president, but his relationship with young intern Monica Lewinsky hadn’t yet come to light. Twenty-four years ago, Imhotep H’Shaka — already serving time for homicide — roughed up a guard, earning him a trip to solitary confinement. And there he stayed, in a 9-by-11-foot cell, through the rest of 1996, 1997, the rest of the 1990s, and into the 21st century. Past 9/11, and even through the entire George W. Bush presidency.
Go to articleRead more...Albany and New York, NY, July 21, 2020 -After 24 years in solitary confinement, Karen Murtagh, Executive Director of Prisoners’ Legal Services of New York (PLS), and Bijan Amini, founding partner of AminiLLC announced the release from solitary confinement of their client, Imhotep H’Shaka, to the state prison’s general population. He had been confined for almost a quarter of a century to a nine by eleven foot cell, 23 hours a day, with no access to group educational, recreation, therapy or worship opportunities, including minimal preparation for release on parole for which he is eligible later this decade. Just this month the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Services (DOCCS) finally recognized Mr. H’Shaka’s basic constitutional rights under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments after two and a half years of litigation.
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