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Tag: Chapter 11

  • Mekhi Phifer Files Bankruptcy Protection, Owes Many

    Mekhi Phifer has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection due to some serious debts. These debts include $1.2 million in back taxes, $50,000 in lawyer bills and $4,500 in unpaid child support, for a total of $1.3 million dollars.

    One wonders how a busy actor like Mekhi Phifer would end up in this situation. Well, he reportedly spends close to $11,600 each month and only brings in about $7500 for the month.

    Just goes to show, you don’t mess with the IRS. Or the mothers of your children.

    He has two kids he is supporting, Omikaye, 15, and Mekhi Jr., 6. The oldest is a son he had with ex-wife, actress Malinda Williams. The younger is a son he had with ex-girlfriend Oni Souratha.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lYK6xbaizM

    On the upside, it looks like his love life has settled down a little. He married Reshelet Barnes at the Montage Hotel in Beverly Hills in April 2013. Too bad that won’t be said about his financial situation anytime soon.

    Despite his money woes, he has been pretty successful in his professional life. He played a role in “Divergent”, which was box office gold to the tune of $56 million back in March and is still going strong. It has already brought in $250 million worldwide and will get a sequel, “Insurgent”, in which Phifer is already on board to continue his role as Max.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hT6Wqukry24

    He has also appeared lately in numerous TV shows like “Lie to Me” and “Torchwood”, as well as recurring role in Showtime’s “House of Lies”.

    So, how exactly does he only bring in about as much as, say, an upper-middle class Joe? Hmm.

    Well, hopefully Phifer can get back on his feet with help from his bankruptcy filing and put all of his thoughts and efforts into making great movies and TV shows.

    Maybe after this fiasco, he will add budgeting to his long list of talents?

    Image Via YouTube

  • Fisker Automotive Files for Bankruptcy

    Fisker Automotive Files for Bankruptcy

    Fisker Automotive, maker of the “Karma” plug-in electric hybrid luxury sedan, filed for bankruptcy protection last week, marking an end to a chain of failure that began after the company received a $529 million loan commitment from the U.S. Department of Energy.

    Anaheim, California-based Fisker, which planned to assemble Karmas at a former General Motors plant in Wilmington, Delaware, has a hearing scheduled in a Delaware court on January 3rd of next year.

    Fisker burned through $192 million of the $529 million U.S. DOE green-energy loan, before officials suspended funding in 2011, after the automaker failed to deliver on any established sales tiers for its Karma. The DOE managed to recover roughly $28 million from Fisker last week, before selling the remainder of the loan to Hybrid Technology LLC, culminating in a loss of $139 million for taxpayers.

    Below is a clip of the $100,000 Fisker Karma breaking down on the Consumer Reports Test track:

    Taxpayers in Delaware will foot the bill for roughly $20 million in loans and grants afforded to Fisker, which were intended to recommence car production at the defunct General Motors plant in Wilmington. Fisker, which currently has about $20,000 in available cash, has also been sued by a former employee, who along with 160 others, was laid off without the required 60 days notice. The workers seek roughly $4 million in back pay and benefits.

    Fisker attorney Ryan Preston Dahl says the company fell into a “perfect storm” of operational and financial complications, including production delays which resulted in the suspension of the DOE loan. Dahl also cited a problem with the main battery supplier for the electric Karma, as well as hundreds of prototypes being destroyed during “Frankenstorm” Sandy, at a port in New Jersey.

    Hybrid Technology LLC, owned by Hong Kong billionaire Richard Li, who seeks to buy Fisker, plans to use a $75 million credit from money it is owed as Fisker’s largest secured lender.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons.

  • Arcapita Bahrain US Bankruptcy Exit a 1st for US

    Arcapita, an Islamic investment firm in Bahrain, emerged from US bankruptcy today under Chapter 11 rules. It is the first of the Gulf companies to do so. This move may help clarify how Western courts deal with Islamic finance, marking the first time a question of an Islamic ruling (fatwa) had been presented to a US bankruptcy judge, according to Reuters.

    The exit was enabled by a $350 million Goldman Sachs International loan. Arcapita represents one of several Gulf-based companies forced to restructure billions of dollars of debt after lending dissipated and asset values toppled with the advent of the global credit crisis.

    The firm plans to transfer assets into a new holding company, RA Holding Corp., which will dispose of the assets gradually to pay down debts to creditors including Barclays, CIMB, Royal Bank of Scotland, Standard Bank and Standard Chartered. The Central Bank of Bahrain was the largest of the creditors, owed $255.1 million. The plan came into effect on Tuesday.

    According to a spokesman speaking to Reuters, “We expect to have a complete exit of the portfolio over the next four to five years. Exits so far have been better than expected, and the reorganization plan allows exactly just that in order to maximize values.”

    This case presents an early foray into dealing with Islamic law (shariah law) as applied to finance industry contracts and disputes through Western courts. Shariah is not codified in legal form, making it a tricky concept to cover in the US courts system.

    The Arcapita case also presented a difficult example as it filed for bankruptcy protection in March of last year with approximately $7.4 billion of its assets under management spread across the globe, as a $1.1 billion Islamic loan came due. The Arcapita portfolio includes holdings in 30 different investments covering private equity, real estate, infrastructure and a small portfolio of venture capital investments.

    [Image via Arcapita official website.]