Washington Mutual demanda a la FDIC por 17 billones US$ + daños

Court Won't Disband Washington Mutual Equity Panel

WILMINGTON, Del. (Dow Jones)--A bankruptcy judge Thursday rebuffed a bid by Washington Mutual Inc. (WAMUQ) to shut down an official committee appointed to look out for shareholders in its Chapter 11 case.

Judge Mary Walrath refused to disband the equity committee named earlier this month in the case of the Seattle bank holding company, which collapsed in bankruptcy after losing Washington Mutual Bank, or WaMu, to regulatory seizure.

Ruling in a courtroom packed with Washington Mutual shareholders, Walrath upheld a decision by federal bankruptcy regulators, who assembled the panel. U.S. Trustee Roberta A. DeAngelis said equity stakeholders need a seat at the bargaining table in the high-stakes bankruptcy case, where $4 billion in cash and more than $5 billion in potential tax refunds are up for grabs.

Separately, the judge refused to authorize Washington Mutual to issue subpoenas to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and others in a quest to find out whether WaMu was really on the point of failure in September 2008 when regulators marched in.

The Department of the Treasury and Federal Reserve Bank agreed to give information to Washington Mutual, but the FDIC, Securities and Exchange Commission and Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco balked at being drawn into the wide-ranging bankruptcy probe.

"Frankly I think issuing subpoenas against dozens of parties just goes too far," Walrath said, noting she has already authorized extensive inquiries, and Washington Mutual has other means of getting the information it needs.

Hopes of a payout from lawsuits filed over WaMu's fate have fueled trading in the parent company debt and stock. Shareholders point to more than $20 billion worth of damage claims filed over the loss of WaMu, chiefly against J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM), which bought WaMu, and against regulators who seized the ailing thrift.

Evidence gathered already indicates J.P. Morgan was discussing the possible acquisition of WaMu with regulators before the bid process was public, said Erica Taggart, attorney for the parent company. She's with Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges.

WaMu's former parent suspects regulators and J.P. Morgan colluded improperly, pushing the troubled thrift that J.P. Morgan had long coveted into deeper distress.

In ruling on the shareholder committee, Walrath said Washington Mutual's pleadings in those lawsuits indicated there is reason to believe Washington Mutual will be able to pay its bills, in spite of company arguments to the contrary.

Even if the bank holding company wins all the suits it filed, and defeats all the counterclaims filed against it, there still won't be enough to cover its debts, leaving something for shareholders, said Washington Mutual attorney Brian Rosen.

Rosen who is an attorney with Weil Gotshal & Manges, said Washington Mutual acknowledges debts of $8.3 billion, but has been hit with claims for at least $54 billion. All legitimate debts must be paid, with interest, before shareholders are paid, he said.

Interest at this point is about $500 million, and it is continuing to accumulate at the rate of $30 million per month, Rosen said.

Creditors have been hoping for a fast deal to cut off what could be years of litigation over the seizure and sale of a thrift that some say was set up for a takeover.

Shareholders want to make sure they aren't left out of settlement calculations, said Gregory Cross, attorney for the equity committee. He's with Venable LLP.

"The fear is...'Hey, we can cut a deal if it's just [the parent company], [WaMu] and the FDIC, but if we've got to include equity and they're really looking out for that last dollar, it will be much more difficult'," Cross said.

Washington Mutual has spent $65 million on professional fees, and hired 19 sets of attorneys and advisers to guide it, the shareholder attorney said, to counter arguments another committee would add undue expense to the case.

Creditors of both the parent company and WaMu opposed the equity committee appointment, insisting Washington Mutual is chasing all the money it can get, and looking out for shareholders.

According to Rosen, shareholders' calculations of the potential lawsuit payoff are way off. That's because $16 billion of the money the company is pursuing is in the form of damages asserted against the receivership where WaMu's debts are being sorted out.

The only cash in that receivership is the $1.9 billion J.P. Morgan paid for WaMu, and the receivership has to spread that money across WaMu's other debts, some $13.8 billion, Rosen said.

"There will be some recovery but it will be a fraction," the attorney said.

(Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review covers news about distressed companies and those under bankruptcy protection.)

-By Peg Brickley, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review; 302-521-2266; [email protected]

Esta noticia cubre las bases de todo lo que ocurrio en la Corte pero no se moja como es lo normal. Nosotros conocemos mejor la pelicula, que a partir de ahora va a pasar a ser vista en velocidad x16 respecto a lo que han sido estos 16 meses.

Lo de Weil ya queda claro, estaban durmiendo en la cama con nuestros enemigos pero espero que el EC lo aclare en cuanto tenga acceso a las cuentas y les meta las cabras en el corral a esta panda de chorizos de guante blanco.

Hoy espero que los MM´s dejen de hacer de las suyas y veamos por fin las P´s por encima de $100 y las WAMUQ al menos en $0.20 con eso me conformaría ya que tengo un amigo que aun no ha comprado y va a hacer su primera inversión en comunes el lunes próximo en cuanto el broker online se lo permita.

Enhorabuena por tu primera inversión Juanma !!!! Te la mereces :) :)

Judge Walrath is well within the guidelines of her jurisdiction and has not made any blunders that would jeopardize her decisions. Today was a massive win and a win to come. The EC is now on firm ground to battle it out with JPM and the FDIC, as well as Wiley, Gotcha and Mangle…

Here’s where it’s going, EC has the dollars and will have the guns to turn the tables on Weil’s complicity (on behalf of his bond clients) . Now in face to face confrontations, Weil will back up a few steps and allow Quinn, Emanuel to take over the full prosecution of plan B (get Jamie) and Weil will concentrate on reducing the primary creditors claims. ($50 billion) which the will now be attacked with the knowledge and ferocity that Weil is known for. The EC will have the ear of Quinn to push for several objectives and one of them will be finding probable cause to leverage the game into extended discovery after they compile the “current and soon to be discovered” e mails and communications that put the stink on the FDIC and JPM.

It is obvious where this is all going, as evidenced from the cumulative interests from other parties involved.
The Insurance Company and the Senate Commission aren’t running blind..they smell a complicity in the WaMu sell out. I believe that the FDIC and JPM will be in a full court press from Quinn to obtain more documents from pertinent parties and also believe the ability for them to call FDIC and JPM “witnesses” for depositions is on the horizon and with the pressure from the Insurance Company, Senate Commission someone will break rank from either the FDIC, OTS, or JPM to haul the “corpse’ into the game.

I said that critical mass was already reached the other day when I predicted that the Judge will uphold the EC and if you read my notes I said she will give Quinn enough room for discovery…and today she made herself quite clear, “ you give me an excuse to expand and I will”. She is still within her “ safe” guidelines and and may already have a feeling that WMI can produce a “probale cause” for her to expand the inquiry to all the parties, without having them now feel that this is a “fishing expedition”.

My thoughts on today’s action…EC and Quinn will be graceful to Weil the Weasel and let him stand around in the front to save face, however, his grip on this action is gone and at best he will share it with the EC and Quinn as they mount an aggressive drive to take down the FDIC and JPM before any of the other jackals (Insurance Company & Commission) can take credit. Bair and Dimon must already sense what their lawyers know and will probably get the confirmation from them shortly, that from hereon it’s about damage control and legacy, if not something of a more serious nature. What I do wonder about now is, does the Judicial branch have the balls to take them all down the way they should,..or are they just going to get a scapegoat..Jamie Dimon!

Either way, the Mighty Quinn has the biggest win of there careers and WMI is settled down to the commons to avoid damages via a tort.

http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/blog/2010/01/big_day_for_wamu_shareholders.html

Señores ya tenemos a la Senadora Cantwell siguiendo los pasos de los chorizos de JPM y la FDIC. Esto se pone al rojo vivo. Espero una investigación del Congreso para persecución por via penal como esto no se arregle muy pronto.

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On the same day that Washington Mutual's shareholders finally won representation in the company's complicated bankruptcy, Sen. Maria Cantwell publicly criticized the federal government's abrupt closure of the bank on Sept. 25, 2008.

"My constituents ... are having a hard time, as I am, understanding the logic and the strategy that one day closes one of the largest banks in our state, Washington Mutual, wiping out 30,000 creditors and basically putting in jeopardy the retirement of many employees, and then four days later we pass a TARP bill," she said on the floor of the U.S. Senate.

The remarks, which appeared to be her first since WaMu's collapse, came as the Washington Democrat's voted against a second term for Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank, who was at the head of the financial system when WaMu collapsed. He eventually was confirmed today.

Cantwell has been silent about WaMu's closure after initially demanding an explanation from regulators about why they took the bank in September 2008. Shortly after the bank was closed by the federal Office of Thrift Supervision and sold to JPMorgan Chase by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Cantwell said she was looking for answers to help her decide whether to pursue a federal inquiry.

Since then, it appears two congressional subcommittees, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI) and the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, part of the House Financial Services Committee are investigating WaMu's collapse.

Meanwhile, in Delaware on Thursday, WaMu's shareholders fighting for an equity committee in the bank's ongoing Chapter 11 bankruptcy in federal court packed a courtroom to hear whether a judge would rule in favor of the committee's appointment. An equity committee in the bankruptcy case is a big deal, because it gives shareholders at chance at recouping billions of dollars in lost wealth.

A federal judge ruled in favor of shareholders and against the bankrupt WaMu holding company, which recently filed a motion to disband the group.

"I think we are now a step closer to a positive outcome," said shareholder Ho Pham, one of many to attend the ruling, in a text message.

Me quedo con esto:
"In ruling on the shareholder committee, Walrath said Washington Mutual's pleadings in those lawsuits indicated there is reason to believe Washington Mutual will be able to pay its bills, in spite of company arguments to the contrary.

Even if the bank holding company wins all the suits it filed, and defeats all the counterclaims filed against it, there still won't be enough to cover its debts, leaving something for shareholders, said Washington Mutual attorney Brian Rosen."

Es decir, la jueza Walrath ve indicios de que A>P pero el hijode**** de Rosen sigue en sus trece diciendo que no hay pasta para todos.

Lo de la Senadora, serán motivos electoralistas/políticos pero es una aliada espontánea que nos viene de cine. Me imagino que ahora que se ha mojado y dicho que va a investigarlo tendrá interés número 1 en encontrar culpables de todo este embrollo y quedar como una política impecable que no admite trapicheos, sobre todo después de que a un ayudante suyo le detuvieran por intentar mantener relaciones sexuales con un niño de 13 años...

http://www.zimbio.com/Senator+Maria+Cantwell+of+Washington/articles/2/Senate+Aide+Maria+Cantwell+Arrested+Underage

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/12098786.html

Pues echando un vistazo a Alemania (cuando abre USA dejo de seguir Alemania) ayer en Frankfurt hubo mucho movimiento, 32M frente a 4M de media... aunque el precio no cambiara me parece un dato interesante...

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2813570420100128

Pero Walrath dijo que no hay pruebas para sugerir que el mandatario abusó de su discreción o actuado de forma indebida en el nombramiento de los titulares de la comisión de equidad, que consiste principalmente de los titulares de acciones preferentes.

Walrath también dijo que el hecho de que la deuda de Washington Mutual y la equidad todavía está siendo objeto de comercio sugiere que el mercado no cree que Washington Mutual está "irremediablemente insolvente."

"Creo que en este punto, es conveniente contar con el capital representado en este caso", dijo.

http://townhall.com/news/business/2010/01/28/bankruptcy_judge_rejects_wamu_subpoena_request