U.S. District Court Judge David Godbey said the Antiguan receivers can make a Chapter 15 bankruptcy filing for Stanford International Bank, but he’ll be the one hearing the case, not a bankruptcy judge.
The Antiguans wanted to make the filing in an effort to go after U.S.-based assets of the bank, but the ruling doesn’t mean they can now get grabby with it. It just means they can make the filing and Godbey will make the decisions over key points, namely where the bank’s “center of main interest” is. If it’s the U.S., as the U.S. receiver argues, then the Antiguans probably won’t get what they want out of the whole process.
Part of Godbey’s explanation for the case staying with him:
“First, Chapter 15 is so new the Bankruptcy Court has not yet developed the superior institutional expertise that it surely will in time. Second, this Court is already familiar with many of the factual circumstances invovled, which familiarity the Bankruptcy Court would need to develop from scratch. Third, it is clear that any decision by the Bankruptcy Court would be appealed to this court (just as it is likely that this Court’s decison will be appealed to the Court of Appeals), and both time and effort would be saved by proceeding in this Court in the first instance.”
BTW, this is what the court-appointed examiner suggested the judge do.
Source: http://blogs.chron.com/stanford/2009/05/judge_oks_bankruptcy_filing_bu_1.html
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