Receiverships

Venable's receivership practice is known for its attorneys who have served as court-appointed receiver or monitor over numerous companies and financial institutions in significant federal and state enforcement actions. Our highly experienced team of attorneys have represented receivers, monitors, trustees, and foreign fiduciaries for over 25 years.

Venable's receivership team is unique in its ability to effectively and efficiently handle even the most complex receivership by virtue of the particular experience and capabilities of its specialty groups, which include asset recovery, insolvency and insurance coverage litigators, former federal prosecutors, crypto-digital asset, bankruptcy, tax, real estate, corporate transaction specialists, former federal and state regulators, judges, and state attorneys general, and the firm's national physical presence.

Our receivers are regularly appointed by courts and requested by the federal and state agencies that bring enforcement actions, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Our lawyers have an enviable track record of success and have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars on behalf of the federal and foreign receivers and bankruptcy trustees they represent. They have also obtained multiple multi-million-dollar recoveries for state agency receivers over failed insurance companies. 

Ensuring the best possible outcome in receiverships—an area where there are few hard-and-fast rules—requires scrupulous ethics and excellent judgment. Our team's enduring track record in this space is indicative of the trust placed in us by judges, federal agencies, state attorneys general, and insurance commissions to deliver maximum value for stakeholders in all of our receivership engagements.

Our Team

Our receivership practice chair serves as the current president of the National Association of Federal Equity Receivers (NAFER), the only national organization devoted to federal receiverships and the unique issues receivers, judges, and regulators face in receivership cases. Previously, he served on NAFER's board of directors and chaired its best practices committee, which developed guidelines followed by receivers throughout the United States. Our receivership attorneys also regularly lecture on receivership, asset recovery, and insolvency litigation issues and are active in the other leading insolvency organizations, including INSOL International, the ABI Caribbean Insolvency Symposium, the National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees, and the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges.

Judicial Opinions

Members of our team are responsible for numerous published judicial opinions, by district courts and the Eleventh Circuit, on cutting-edge legal issues affecting receiverships. These decisions have established or confirmed the right and standing of receivers to obtain turnover of assets, and to investigate and pursue all manner of claims that can benefit the receivership estate. As such, they have benefited not only receiverships where our attorneys have served, but receiverships nationally.

Scope of Service

A large part of our practice is directed to representation of receivers, trustees, committees, and defrauded investors. Thus, in addition to being adept at operating businesses in receivership/bankruptcy, we have a great deal of experience investigating and pursuing claims and assets in connection with all varieties of deceptive schemes, and in the recovery of assets from wherever they are located. In so doing, we have developed relationships with counsel, investigators, and law enforcement authorities overseas that aid us in efficiently navigating the multi-jurisdictional situations with which we are presented.

Our Approach

For a receivership to be successful, it is often necessary to draw upon the extensive experience of our complementary practice areas across the firm to provide integrated support. These include tax lawyers; corporate transaction lawyers; our regulatory group; our real estate team; insurance, cryptocurrency, and insolvency attorneys; and other professionals. We also rely on our bankruptcy attorneys, who have frequently served as debtors' counsel and counsel for official committees and understand the nuances of complex receiverships. 

 

 

Experience
+

  • Serves as federal court-appointed receiver and counsel over TCA Fund Management Group Corp., TCA Global Credit Master Fund, LP (Cayman), TCA Global Credit Fund, LTD (Cayman), and hedge funds with offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia in SEC enforcement actions, where funds had defrauded investors of an estimated $300 million. Operated receivership-owned businesses in the United States, New Zealand, Scotland, Ireland, and England and obtained recovery of $70 million to date for stakeholders
  • Serves as federal court-appointed receiver and counsel in an enforcement action brought by the FTC and the state of Florida in 321 Loans receivership over 26 affiliated entities that defrauded consumers nationwide of $85 million in a nationwide debt relief scheme, and recovered over $30 million for victims to date
  • Serves as federal court-appointed receiver and counsel over Pointbreak Media, LLC and its affiliated entities that engaged in a multi-million-dollar telemarking and robocall scam targeting small business owners
  • Served as federal court-appointed receiver and counsel in an SEC enforcement action, over Creative Capital Consortium, LLC and affiliated entities that defrauded investors of over $68 million, and distributed a 34% recovery to victims despite inheriting a receivership with only $28,000 in bank accounts upon appointment
  • Served as federal court-appointed receiver and counsel over World Patent Marketing, Inc. and Desa Industries, Inc. and affiliated entities, in an action brought by the FTC, where over 1,500 consumers were defrauded of $26 million in an invention-promotion scheme
  • Served as federal court-appointed receiver and counsel over VGC Corporation of America, All Dream Vacations Corp., and related entities in an enforcement action brought by the FTC and the state of Florida. Despite taking over an insolvent estate whose principals filed for bankruptcy, obtained significant recoveries for benefit of victims
  • Served as federal court-appointed receiver and counsel over Hispanic Global Way Corp., First Airborne Service Trading Corp., Hispanic Network Connections, LLC, and related entities in an enforcement action brought by the FTC, and recovered over $1.5 million for victims 
  • Serves as special litigation counsel to the assignee for the benefit of creditors for Laser Spine Institute, LLC and affiliated entities pursuing claims for recovery of more than $110,000,000
  • Served as special litigation counsel to the liquidator of the Puerto Rican insurance commissioner relating to claims against directors and officers of an insolvent, regulated insurer
  • Represented the Chapter 7 trustee in the bankruptcy of one of the largest foreclosure defense firms in the state of Florida, with over 4,000 potential claimants
  • Served as special litigation counsel to the receiver excused from turnover in the Chapter 11 case of Bal Harbour Quarzo, pursuing professional malpractice and fraudulent transfer claims in excess of $40 million
  • Represents the federal court-appointed receiver of Health Service Providers, Inc., Magnolia Health Management Corp., and affiliated entities engaged in a multi-million-dollar medical discount plan and health-related plans
  • Represented the trustee of the Mutual Benefits Keep Policy Trust, which arose from the Mutual Benefits Corporation receivership, Sec. and Exch. Comm'n v. Mutual Benefits Corp., Case No. 04-60573-CIV-Moreno
  • Served as lead counsel to the court-appointed receiver and Chapter 11 fiduciary in E.S. Bankest, L.C. receivership in pursuit of avoidance and other claims arising from a $170 million fraudulent scheme
  • Served as lead counsel to the court-appointed and Chapter 11 trustee in a Louis Pearlman Ponzi scheme in the prosecution of fraudulent transfer claims in connection with a $400 million scheme against a financial institution, resulting in a settlement for the client well in excess of eight figures
  • Served as counsel to the court-appointed receiver over Bogdan Financial Group, Inc. and its affiliated defendants that operated a Ponzi scheme that deprived hundreds of residents of the state of Florida of over $16 million