Kaye Scholer, one of the New York law firms representing the trustee in Suge Knight‘s bankruptcy case, is requesting a $6.8 million case fee for handling last week’s auction of Death Row Records [click to read]. The firm cited their need to go above and beyond the normal means to track down Knight‘s assets for the auction.
“The representation of the Trustee in this case has been particularly complex due to the individuals involved in the company’s operations and intentionally illicit, ‘gangster-style’ business operations of the debtor,” stated a Kaye Scholer bankruptcy case fee application.
A federal bankruptcy court in California was scheduled to hear discussions on the matter yesterday, but none of the rulings have been made public. According to the Wall Street Journal, Kaye Scholer cites expenses used to recover assets Knight intentionally hid as a large contributor to the $6.8 million tab. The firm says those assets allegedly included “a Malibu home, that Knight transferred to friends in an effort to shield those assets from creditors, a secret storage locker in Michigan that contained a ‘treasure trove’ of unreleased songs by famous Death Row artists [and] other secret tracks–and records of hidden bank accounts–stashed in a southern California warehouse.”
The firm also claims it had to negotiate settlements with at least three women who claimed Knight owed them over $500,000 in child support. If Kaye Scholer‘s accusations are true, the firm joins a list of creditors that includes Death Row co-founder Lydia Harris [click to read] and the Internal Revenue Service.
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When asked about the winning bid by the WIDEawake Entertainment Group–a bid that was over $10 million short of the worse predicted sales–Robert Orgel, who helped track down the assets, was tight-lipped.
“This was a messy case,”Orgel told AmLaw.com. Adding that “it is no surprise” that the assets drew only $18 million.
