Citibank Defends Trade Valuations To Open $2B Lehman Suit

By Alex Wolf

Law360, New York (April 25, 2017, 9:41 PM EDT) -- Lawyers for Citibank NA came out swinging Tuesday to open a bankruptcy court trial over the nearly $2 billion valuation of about 30,000 derivatives trades that went into default after Lehman Brothers’ 2008 collapse, saying Citibank used proper methods to determine the cost of replacing those trades.

Jay Cohen gives opening statement in the LBHI v Citibank trial in SDNY Bankruptcy trial

On the first day of a multiweek bench trial in front of U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Shelley C. Chapman, attorneys Jay Cohen and Claudia Hammerman of Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP delivered opening arguments for Citibank.

Claudia Hammerman gives opening statement to Judge Shelly Chapman in SDNY Bankruptcy Court.

A question before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Shelley C. Chapman is whether a creditor holding a claim secured by a right of setoff can recover post-petition interest under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Citi says its $2.2 billion in claims against Lehman are secured by setoff rights against $2 billion in Lehman cash it has held since 2008, and it wants the post-petition interest based on the argument that it is oversecured.

Citibank Trial Team: L-R Jay Cohen, Liza Velazquez, Claudia Hammerman, Julia Wood
Courtroom Art by Elizabeth Williams

Lehman's objection to the post-petition interest is part of a larger lawsuit over the validity of Citi's claims, which arose from clearing and settlement services it provided before Lehman’s collapse as well as credit and derivative contract debts.

The trial is expected to last into September 2017.

After MF Global settlement, PwC Keeps The Oscars Gig

After the MF Global trial settlement, PwC keeps the Oscar gig.

http://goingconcern.com/pwc-keeps-oscars/

After dealing with weeks of embarrassment, brand damage, ridicule, repeated apologies, rejection and capitulation, PwC has finally caught a break.
The Hollywood Reporter reports that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has decided to retain the firm to tabulate the ballots for the Oscars despite the colossal screw-up that happened with the Best Picture envelope.  Sure, it won’t make up for the untold millions they agreed to pay to the plaintiffs in the MF Global trial, but, hey,  it’s something!

PwC attorney James Cusick cross examines Jon Corzine at the MF Global PwC civil trial. The case settled March 23rd before  the trial came to a close. Judge Victor Marrero presiding in Manhattan Federal Court. artwork by Elizabeth Williams

The trial between bankrupt brokerage MF Global, run by former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, and its former accounting firm, PwC, came to an unceremonious end on March 23rd, when both parties  reached a settlement.
Terms of the settlement were not disclosed. MF Global had been suing PwC for as much as $3 billion.
"The case was settled to the mutual satisfaction of the parties," said PwC spokesman Andrew Wilson.


Hollywood Reporter Oscar article
 http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/academy-retains-accounting-firm-oscars-fiasco-989344

Defamation Lawsuit Against Trump Adviser Postponed

Roger Stone appears at a hearing for the postponed civil trial in which he will be called on as witness. By his side was former madam and GOP nominee for NY Governor, Kirstin Davis. Stone managed her 2010 campaign and is godfather of her baby. Warren Redlich, the plaintiff, was the 2010 Libertarian candidate for NY Governor.L-R Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Richard Braun, Warren Redlich, Stone's attorney, Benjamin Burge, Foreground: Roger Stone, Kirstin Davis. Artwork by Aggie Whelan Kenny

By KAREN MATTHEWS
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) - Republican strategist Roger Stone said Thursday that jurors may think he's "the devil" but he still expects to beat a defamation lawsuit accusing him of circulating a mailer calling a political candidate a sexual predator.

The civil trial in New York was set to start Thursday but was postponed until at least August.

Stone, a longtime Donald Trump adviser who cut his teeth in politics playing tricks on opponents of President Richard Nixon, said he looks forward to testifying - and he also hopes to testify before congressional committees investigating alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

He said he wants to testify before the House Intelligence Committee because ranking Democrat Adam Schiff, of California, "maligned" him by accusing him of predicting the hacking of Hillary Clinton campaign manager John Podesta's email account.

"He slimed me in public, and I'd like to have an opportunity to defend myself in public," Stone said.

The defamation suit accuses Stone and two others of sending a flyer to 150,000 New York households during the state's 2010 election that called the Libertarian Party candidate for governor, Warren Redlich, a "sick twisted pervert."