I decided on Friday that I was going to take off work and attend the EC meeting. I thought it would be important for us to have at least a couple there to be our eyes and ears. After the positive responses I received from the DC hearing, I was determined to attend the EC meeting to provide valuable details to the people that weren't able to attend. Genuinebeachbum had contacted me on Saturday and wanted to meet up and discuss what was going on and talk about things to say if we got an opportunity to speak our mind.
Monday morning I met Genuinebeachbum at the Doubletree at 10am. We went for some coffee and discussed what had happened, what was going to happen, the EC meeting, etc... He knew how important it was for us to establish an EC for the shareholders, because he had also invested in K-Mart in the past and pretty much got screwed over. Thank you for taking the time to meet me and it was very nice to meet you in person.
We went back to the hotel at about 11:30am and the doors to the meeting rooms were open. The schedule posted in the lobby said:
1 - Washington Mutual Equity Committee formation 12:00 - 5:00pm
2 - Break-Out 12:00 - 5:00pm
At that time, we both didn't know what that meant, but assumed that the break-out room was for privacy meetings. There were about 6 people present at 12:50pm. It was Genuinebeachbum, two individuals that were also at the the DC hearing in Judge Collyer's court, the person from the small hedge fund, another retail investor, and I. Before the doors were closed, there were about 25 people total in the room. I would say about half were attorneys representing hedge funds, were there as a proxy, or representing Weil, Gotshal, and Manges. I had a couple of attorneys approach me asking if I was an attorney, who I was representing, and why I was there. I told them I was just a retail shareholder, observing the EC meeting, and reporting back to other shareholders. They told me I should apply to be on the equity committee, although I had no intention on being on the EC at first.
Before the meeting started, everyone there had to sign in and fill out a questionnaire / application for the equity committee. I filed one out and Genuinebeachbum asked Joyce if we should check the box for yes to be on the equity committee. Joyce responded that it couldn't hurt to say yes, but just write if necessary below it, if you really don't want to be on the EC unless needed. So I applied for the EC, but also wrote if necessary below my answer.
The meeting was very short. Joseph Mchanon from the US Trustee had a very short overview why we were there and called up Brian Rosen from Weil. (I have provided audio files and the files are hosted on ghostofwamu.com board). Mr. Mchanon had two government officials with him, that would assist him with the interview process of the applicants later on. I don't want to go in detail on what Mr. Rosen said, but basically he had his "commons are worthless" speech on repeat again. He answered some questions, but said he couldn't go into detail because of confidentiality issues.
During the meeting, people from the press were asked to leave. After the meeting was over, the US Trustee moved into the break-out room and had a brief discussion with Mr. Rosen and his associate. Not sure why they would have to meet, but hopefully it was Mr. Mchanon telling the debtors counsel that the EC was a go. After that meeting was over, Brian Rosen and Matthew Curro left. The US Trustee now was calling in individuals one-by-one for an interview process.
After the "important" people got called in, my name was called. I walked in the break-out room and was only asked one question. "What do you mean by: "yes, if necessary" I told them I would take the time to be on the equity committee if needed. They told they had enough applicants and wanted to have people that really wanted to be on the equity committee. In my opinion, I could've been on the EC if I had just checked yes, but I think everything worked better in the end. So my interview was less than a minute and shortly after the US Trustee came back into the main room. He made Peg Brickley leave the room or else he wouldn't announce the names on the EC. She told him that it was a public meeting and that she wouldn't leave unless it was stated somewhere that no press was allowed. After about 20 minutes of arguing, we all had to leave the room and moved into the break-out room to announce the EC members. I give her credit for putting her foot down and wanting stay, because within seconds of the meeting ending, she approached me and got all the names of the EC members.
What I meant earlier about me not being on the committee worked out for best is because I wouldn't have been able to talk to the press afterwards.
Bloomberg - Not sure who was there and I didn't get a chance to talk to them.
Reuters - Tom Hals(This is the reporter that wrote the article last week (http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5BU37N20091231) I talked to him for a little bit. He asked me questions why we were here, although it a huge case why he hasn't heard anything in the media about it. I straight up told him; "Isn't that your job?" We talked about Kirsten Grind and how slowly some light is being shed on Wamu. Although he wrote the additional tax refund article, he wasn't very knowledgeable about the Wamu seizure as a whole (Can someone help me put together a write-up in about 2 pages about what has happened, what has developed over the last 15 months, and what should happen or will happen). We exchange contact information and I told him I will send him some informative readings.
WSJ - Peg Brickley. After the EC members were chosen, people who weren't on the EC were excused. Peg Brickley, some other shareholders, and I kind of had a group interview afterwards. We talked about meeting (she arrived late) and she seemed very interested in the whole situation and was wondering if the truth will ever come out. We talked for about 30 minutes and I decided to go home before traffic. She thanked me for attending the meeting and reporting back to the shareholders that weren't able to make it today. While driving home Peg emails me 15 minutes later and tells me to keep in touch Re: wamu.
I really need to get ready for work.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone that was able to make it out yesterday. I got to thank Joyce in person and told how much she has done for everyone. I would like to thank Opnshor, Abby_K, the two shareholders from MD that also attended the DC hearing(these two guys are very knowledgeable and know the case pretty much inside out), Larry (Genuinebeachbum), and everyone I forgot to mention but that has worked so hard to get this equity committee in place.
I agree with Genuinebeachbum. We NEED to have the courtroom packed with shareholders in every hearing from now on out.
We got what we came for. To form an equity committee with the people we wanted to be on it. We got an all-star caliber team on the EC and it couldn't have worked out better.
PM me if you would like to do a short write-up, so I can e-mail it to Tom Hals and Peg Brickley.
GLTA.