Collecting Madoff and Dreier Assets Keeps New York Lawyers Busy—and Stressed
Despite the dismal economy, there’s been quite a bit of work lately for lawyers who specialize in recovering assets held by convicted swindlers. But it isn’t an easy gig.
As partner Mark Pomerantz of Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison moves toward the finish line concerning his role as a court-appointed receiver liquidating Marc Dreier’s law partnership, the trustee of Bernard Madoff’s defunct investment business has obtained court approval to bring in a New York law firm that worked on Bernard Madoff’s personal bankruptcy, Windels Marx Lane & Mittendorf, to help liquidate Madoff’s assets.
Partner Alan Nisselson, who served as trustee in the personal bankruptcy, will be paid a discounted rate of $510 per hour under the plan approved Thursday by a New York bankruptcy judge, reports Bloomberg. The firm will potentially sue to recover some assets.
Meanwhile, Pomerantz is ready to move on from a job that included not only collecting assets such as a yacht and luxury homes but winding down the operations of the mid-size New York law firm of which Dreier was the sole partner—all under instructions to spend as little as possible. In the latter role, he routinely had to deal with angry and distressed individuals—including his own tearful niece, who worked as a Dreier attorney—as the firm suddenly imploded after Dreier’s arrest during the holiday season last year, he tells the New York Times.
The job, the former federal prosecutor says, is one he will never take on again. “How many reasons would you like?”
