Alex Jones's Bankruptcy
Alex Jones filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy himself today. So what is Mr. Jones hoping to accomplish with the bankruptcy filing? I see three possible goals, but I'm skeptical that he'll achieve more than one of them.
News & Comments
New Resource on Uniform Commercial Code Reform for Digital Assets including Crytocurrency
Earlier this fall I linked to a variety of resources, including webinars, on amendments to the Uniform Commercial Code to account for various types of digital assets. The scope includes but is not limited to commercial transactions involving cryptocurrency.
DOJ and DOE New Guidelines for Supporting Student Loan Discharge in Bankruptcy = More Student Loan Discharges?
The Department of Justice, in coordination with the Department of Education, has announced a new process for its handling of bankruptcy cases in which debtors seek an undue hardship student loan discharge. This new guidance has been a long time coming. In 2016, the DOE issued a request for information regarding evaluating undue hardship claims.
Credit Slips Now on Mastodon
Nine years ago, Credit Slips announced its new Twitter feed. Credit Slips is now also on Mastondon, at @creditslips.mastodon.lawprofs.org. We'll put links to our posts on Mastodon as they are published, as well as boost Credit Slips authors. For now, we'll also continue adding posts to our Twitter feed. Come find us on Mastodon!
Binance's Custodial Arrangements: Whose Keys? Whose Coins?
For months, cryptocurrency FTX (and its majority owner, Sam Bankman-Fried) have been the lender of last resort in crypto markets and pretty much the only distressed acquirer around. Now we learn that FTX has itself failed and is getting scooped up in a distressed acquisition by Binance. Does this remind anyone of Bank of America's purchase of Merrill Lynch and Countrywide in 2008? We'll see if the transaction closes, but at the very least it poses the question of whether Binance stands on any stronger ground than FTX?
The Texas Two-Step as Fraudulent Transfer
Judge Judith Fitzgerald (ret.) and I have a post about the Texas Two-Step bankruptcy process up at the Harvard Bankruptcy Law Blog, which has been running a series on the phenomenon. And the Slips' own John A.E. Pottow has a capstone post on the same topic.
Dual Insulation? The Fifth Circuit's Factual Misunderstanding of CFPB Funding
I know I’m carrying around some extra weight. But I don’t think it’s quite double insulation. That sounds like something you need if you’re going on a polar expedition or are really concerned about the heating bill. But the concept of "dual insulation" plays a big role in the Fifth Circuit’s decision in Community Financial Services Association of America, Ltd. v. CFPB, which held the CFPB’s funding mechanism to be unconstitutional because it is not an annual appropriation from Treasury.
US Chamber of Commerce vs CFPB
One would have thought that after a dozen years the challenges to the CFPB’s constitutionality would have been over and that the Supreme Court’s decision in Seila Law would have put the matter to rest.
Help us Brainstorm how the Bankruptcy System Could be Fairer to Low-income People and People of Color
This past month, Nathalie (Martin) and I gave a talk at the Tenth Circuit Bench and Bar Conference on Credit, Race, Class, and Bankruptcy. After recounting some of the historical reasons for persistent wealth, income, and debt gaps among different races and ethnicities, we shared these slides to show that wealth and debt inequalities persist to this day.
New Book Alert: Delinquent
The University of California Press has published Delinquent: Inside America's Debt Machine by Elena Botella.
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