50 Cent
The rapper and actor 50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis Jackson III, filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2015 after a New York jury found him liable for $5 million for posting a sex tape of a rival rapper’s girlfriend on-line without her permission. This may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back as he was already in debt for several business deals that went South, including one to market headphones. He emerged from the bankruptcy by re-paying about $22 million in…
Francis Ford Coppola
The brilliant and award-winning director of “Apocalypse Now” and “The Godfather” trilogy filed bankruptcy multiple times for both himself and his production companies. His financial troubles began in the early 1980s when he obtained financing for the film “One from the Heart”, a flashy musical set in Las Vegas which was a flop at the box office. Street scenes were recreated in the director’s production company studios. The film cost $25 million to make and only generated $8 million in revenue. The reorganizations were a…
Special Coroonavirus Stimulus Package Benefits Edition – Part || New Small Business Grants and Loans
Special Coroonavirus Stimulus Package Benefits Edition – Part || New Small Business Grants and Loans
New Legislation Introduced To Make Student Loans Dischargeable Again
Richard Nemeth, our firm’s principal, traveled to Washington DC last month to lobby for changes in the bankruptcy laws which would be favorable to consumers, including two bills recently introduced that would make student loans dischargeable again. Student loans were once dischargeable like any other debt. Over the years, Congress has chipped away at the dischargeability of student loans bit by bit. First, it passed a law that said that government backed student loans were only dischargeable after 5 years. That period was extended later…
American Bankruptcy Institute Recommends Changing The Law Regarding Dischargeability Of Debtor’s Attorney’s Fees
It’s tax refund season again. This means that the number of consumer bankruptcy filings will surge because consumers can afford to pay to file bankruptcy and discharge their debts. For many, bankruptcy is a luxury that they can’t normally afford. A significant portion of the cost of filing a consumer bankruptcy is paying for attorney’s fees. Typically, these attorney’s fees must be paid in full before the case is filed because most courts have ruled that a debt owed to a consumer bankruptcy attorney is…
Change In Exemption Statute Alows Debtors To Keep More Property In Bankruptcy
Among the most important issues to consider when filing a consumer bankruptcy are the exemption laws. Exemption laws are federal and state laws which set forth what property a person can keep when he or she files bankruptcy. If the bankrupt party owns property in excess of the property set forth in the exemption laws then, in theory, the excess property must be turned-over to the bankruptcy court to be sold and the proceeds distributed to creditors. Each state chooses whether it wants to allow…
Barneys NewYork
Barneys New York is a chain of luxury department stores headquartered in New York City. It started as a discount retailer in the 1930s, but morphed into a luxury brand retailer in the 1980s. In the early 1990s Barneys expanded and opened 30 stores outside of its New York base. Over-burdened with debt, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1996 and closed stores in several locations across the country and abroad. The majority interest of the company is now owned by Perry Capital…
Andy Gibb
Andy Gibb was a pop singer whose three older brothers were world famous stars known as the BeeGees. Andy found lessor fame in the 70s on his own. Andy filed bankruptcy in 1987 listing more than a million dollars in debts and less than $50,000.00 in assets.
Anna Nicole Smith
Of the all the celebrity bankruptcies, Anna Nicole Smith’S was perhaps the most interesting. Smith was a model and actress and the 1993 Playboy Playmate of the Year. She was a featured model for clothing companies, including Guess Jeans and Lane Bryant. In 1994 Smith, who was then 26 years old, married an oil tycoon who was 89 at the time. Many speculated that she married him for his money. Upon her husband’s death, Smith and her husband’s son, E. Pierce Marshall, began a fierce…
Bernhard Goetz
Bernhard Goetz is known as the “subway vigilante”. In 1984 he was approached by four young African-American men on a subway in Manhattan, and asked for money. After a previous mugging on the subway, Goetz had purchased a 38?caliber handgun in Florida. When the four men approached him Goetz took out the gun and fired five shots seriously wounding all four. The incident sparked a national discussion about crime and firearms. It is credited with causing politicians to start cleaning up crime in New York…