Premier Cru files for bankruptcy

[JimHow]

Yeah no kidding, crazy like a fox.

[JCNorthway]

This was a front page headline at the online Chicago Tribune this afternoon. Don't go directly to their website - it's all paid subscription. But if you click on the top link in the Google search below, you should be able to read the article.

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=c ... go+wallets

[Chateau Vin]

Assuming he pays 45 mil, (I don't think he would), he scammed 25 mil in exchange for 6.5 years of his freedom.

If we assume that an average American household earns 100k a year (I am being generous here), for 40 yrs of work, it's 4 mil over a lifetime...

Now, if I put forward a deal that says "you will earn 25 mil in your lifetime, but you will have to do away with 6.5 yrs of freedom", I hardly see anyone refusing it. In fact, I would see riots breaking out to grab that deal...

Talk about a broken justice system in the other direction...

[JimHow]

5.5 with good time.

[Chateau Vin]

5.5 with good time.

Even sweet... No living expenses and medical needs also taken care of for 5.5 years. Why bother to go to college, work more than 40 hrs a week, and work on weekends when needed...

[AKR]

Futures market is broken, with or without the PC fraud.

The chateaux are fundamentally so prosperous now they do not need to offer discount on their wine, for the early subscribers.

The only way I can see it recovering is if they do something like offer discounts for those who buy something like 5 vintages in a row, in a contract or something.

[AKR]

If you look at the WB thread on PC, apparently the Trustee is pursuing customers who received a 'net benefit' and sending them demand letters going back to 2004, in some cases. Apparently under the fraudulent conveyance theory, not just preference claims.

John Fox's belated Christmas gift to everyone....

[JimHow]

It sounds unfair but it's not like there weren't some of us saying back then that this business was a fraud.
That's about the time I stopped buying from them.

[DavidG]

It is unfair. You should study the details more carefully Jim.

[JimHow]

I haven't studied it at all David.
What are the arguments being made as to why some victims of the fraud should be prioritized over others?

[DavidG]

See PM. The trustee has been aggressive in pursuing not only straightforward claw backs for preferential treatment, but also in pursuing paybacks for fraudulent conveyance going back years and using math that doesn’t add up.

[JimHow]

Yeah these trustees can be scoundrels.
Isn't there a statute of limitations?

[DavidG]

I have no idea how a statute of limitations would work in a situation like this. If the trustee is claiming that fraudulent conveyance went back many years but continued with ongoing purchases, maybe a statute of limitations doesn’t run out.

[Michael-P]

Info from Feb 7, 2020:

This notice is to inform you that JOHN FOX has been approved for placement in a Community Corrections Center (CCC), otherwise known as a halfway house, and will transfer from this institution on August 25, 2020. After the transfer, the inmate will be located at Riverside Work Release in N. Prince George, Virginia.

In addition to the information provided regarding this offender's CCC transfer, the following information is relevant to the inmate's eventual release. The inmate is scheduled to release on February 22, 2021. The inmate is not eligible for parole. Upon release, the inmate will reside in N Prince George, Virginia, and will be supervised by the United States Probation Office at USPO - Western District of Virginia - Charlottesville, 101 United State Court House, 255 West Main Street, Charlottesville, Virginia 22902-5047. Additionally, he will receive up to a 12-month sentence reduction for completion of the Residential Drug Abuse Program; his final release date will become February 23, 2021.

[AKR]

He really served very little time given the sums involved. I also doubt he'll stop his grifts and scams either. Maybe he'll have learned more advanced techniques while in custody.

I don't think we've seen the end of his mayhem.

[Michael-P]

This notice is to inform you that JOHN FOX has been approved for placement in a Community Corrections Center (CCC), otherwise known as a halfway house, and will transfer from this institution on July 30, 2020. After the transfer, the inmate will be located at his/her home on home confinement, monitored by Riverside Work Release in N. Prince Georg, Virginia.

In addition to the information provided regarding this offender's CCC transfer, the following information is relevant to the inmate's eventual release. The inmate is scheduled to release on February 23, 2021. The inmate is not eligible for parole. Upon release, the inmate will reside in N Prince George, Virginia, and will be supervised by the United States Probation Office at USPO - Western District of Virginia - Charlottesville, 101 United State Court House, 255 West Main Street, Charlottesville, Virginia 22902-5047. Additionally, he will receive up to a 12-month sentence reduction for completion of the Residential Drug Abuse Program; his final release date will become February 23, 2021. After the transfer, the inmate will be located at his home on home confinement and monitored by US Probation Office in Charlottesville, Virginia.

[Michael-P]

And I haven't yet seen a dime back of my $$$.

[AKR]

Has the trustee been pestering you for clawbacks? some folks on WB have settled, but refuse to say (publicly) for what sums.

[JimHow]

Is this case still open? Why? I'm sure the trustees are milking it, like they usually do.

[AKR]

They have been chasing clawbacks going back to 2004 versus some large customers. The trustee hired some law firm that specializes in that, on a success basis. And from what I understand, reading between the lines on the WB thread that flares up occasionally, not all the victims are docilely paying up. But at least publicly no one is stating settlement percentages/values etc.

Some WB posters who used to gloat over their PC haul over the years on WB, have assiduously gone back and scrubbed the threads clean of their triumphant posts.

=======

Perhaps one day, after a glass of wine, and in person, I will explain how Dodd Frank prevents this kind of event from happening to a banking customer when dealing with a shaky financial firm. That might interest 1 person in the universe, beyond me.

[JimHow]

It was around 2004 that I started suspecting them and that's about when I stopped, other than a 1955 Gruaud Larose which I bought in the store from the man himself a few years later, what an arrogant prick he was.

[Blanquito]

And I haven't yet seen a dime back of my $$$.

Did you ever get any back from your credit card company, Michael? I know that avenue got ~$5000 or so back for a number of 'unsecured creditors'.

[Blanquito]

They have been chasing clawbacks going back to 2004 versus some large customers. The trustee hired some law firm that specializes in that, on a success basis. And from what I understand, reading between the lines on the WB thread that flares up occasionally, not all the victims are docilely paying up. But at least publicly no one is stating settlement percentages/values etc.

Some WB posters who used to gloat over their PC haul over the years on WB, have assiduously gone back and scrubbed the threads clean of their triumphant posts.

=======

Perhaps one day, after a glass of wine, and in person, I will explain how Dodd Frank prevents this kind of event from happening to a banking customer when dealing with a shaky financial firm. That might interest 1 person in the universe, beyond me.

I was one of the legion who gloated from time to time (I've never scrubbed any old threads though), but it turns out I am/was small time and fell well below the total amounts needed to be subject to clawbacks. Plus, I got my wine and credit all out >6 months before the bankruptcy (thanks again, Arv).

[marcs]

Perhaps one day, after a glass of wine, and in person, I will explain how Dodd Frank prevents this kind of event from happening to a banking customer when dealing with a shaky financial firm. That might interest 1 person in the universe, beyond me.

As someone who both bought from PC and worked on drafting Dodd-Frank, it interests me!

[JimHow]

That was an excessively long sentence to serve that he received.
I don’t do many federal cases but I wonder where he landed in the sentencing guidelines.
I’m assuming he’ll be on probation for a while, I hope we never hear from him again.