uh...
let it go
see if they get involved
alrighty twelve o'clock right
let's
you ready to go care
let them all in
alright
good afternoon everyone
thank you for joining me remotely
this is the
block five
it matter
and
we're having the call
on the request of
by correspondence behalf of the committee
mister stoltz's correspondence
and
let me
make sure i see who's on
alright
essentially we're having an informal though we are on record
scheduling
discussion
and
let's start with uh... i see
a lot of faces that i've known over the
past decade mister stoltz and mister
use it in this is a road up
i've seen faces of those
who've appeared in front of me recently mister jones and mister stark
and others and of course are u s trustees council
uh...
it's always a pleasure for the court too
work with
the best of the best and
i i see the best of the best in front of me
uh...
as far as expertise in professionalism
the problem with working with the best of the best is that
they're there for a reason
that they are the most frightened
uh...
them
the most ardent in their advocacy
and uh...
they work the hardest to produce for their respective clients
meeting is being recorded
courses
i know as well that
we're talking about two types of hearings
the retention application
for
uh...
malice
we're talking about a curb
and if i gave you all
two hours
to argue those you would do it effectively if they gave you all two
days you would do it effectively
problem is i don't have
and it's difficult to find two days
to allow for that
but i need to give you more than two hours
so it's trying to come to what's a reasonable
midway
i'm going to hear from you all
uh...
i'm going to first lay out
my thinking about how to best go about this
if it and hopefully
it'll comporter will be you'll be viewed as as workable
i actually try to contribute by clearing a two-day mediation that i had this week
off my calendar
uh...
to the chagrin of
several attorneys
that that mediation was scheduled for thursday the twenty-six
and the twenty-seventh
uh... i already knew the twenty-seventh i was gonna have to push them
uh... but
i tried to make time
this is a curb motion and this is
an objection to a retention
as i said the court it finds it hard to
allow for multiple
days of hearings on these
i don't think that works well for the case for the estate as well
for the cost involved
i would envision that this can be done
in a day
here's my outline of how how to go about it and then we could talk about it
we would start with the curb because i know the witness availability is an
issue
we would use
the
declarations
that have been on file
starting i think
the last one i saw was six o'clock this morning
i know of three potential witnesses
uh... just a few car trail
megan crowell
and for the committee possibly matthew manning
but those are the names that i've seen on the declarations i would
use those as direct testimony
we would then
allow for cross-examination
i think four hours of testimony
would suffice leaving an hour and a half
of argument
on the curb
that's a total of five and a half hours
and i would i don't believe we need testimony on the retention application
i have some thoughts on that as well
i'll talk about later
i would leave an hour and a half for argument
that's seven hours
that would be starting at nine
taking a half hour
lunch break because there's nowhere
in trenton that
you can go anyway
and
that would leave
and you've all experienced that
uh... and that would leave
uh...
going to four thirty
if we did that on january twenty six that would leave the friday the twenty
seventh
for a limited matter of spillover if we needed
understand calendar is tough if we do it on the on the twenty seventh
we would get it done on the twenty seventh
a mac glued to
staff here is workable we could stay longer
that's my time frame that's what i think
it could be done
i know you all have been at it longer than i have on these issues
uh... and have
possibly different ideas
by the respect to the
i don't know if i'm pronouncing for a malice
uh...
retention application
i've reviewed the proposal i reviewed the counter proposal
a huge gap
well it's significant
think the parties may want to consider
with respect to three types of fees the restructuring
the sale fee
transaction fee in the mining asset
sale fee
problem maybe employing a sliding scale that takes into account the numbers
you have in your proposal
uh... and the counter proposal as a minimum and maximum
and just tie it to
a performance
gave you know dollars or potential
recovery or transaction
something along those lines
uh... i don't want to take a few again you all have more expertise
in these areas
that's something that i think
we should
uh... countless our expensive our
attorney time on trying to
uh...
litigate
with those thoughts
since it was the committee's initial request
for
by letter let me first turn to the committee and i'll turn to debtors
council
i don't know who wants to time and for the committee
this is a bit of a particular character
uh... and thank you for accommodating that's what i think that i asked for
that for the call because my experience in the people who are always productive
and i know you're on all doctors
uh... maybe will offer less the more we accept
uh... but that we appreciate your honor the availability and uh...
improvement to come
this is a great
thank you honor jack john it's uh...
for our public for the committee and we do appreciate you taking the time your
honor let me say
at the outset night i think uh...
i think i think that there is uh... at all terms of split agree with me we we
don't like to have to take up the court's time with procedural matters we work hard
to it
resolved the actually sometimes most of the time we do
uh... but sometimes we can't and and that's why we here
and i also want to be responsive bomb
to some of the things you said let me just start with those because i think
they are helpful and instructive
uh... your car comments on
i think all of you say morelis
somewhere between you'll get it right uh...
with respect to morelis your honor i i hope
your comments can actually help respect to
a conceptual resolutions
i think they were instructive uh...
frankly
we've found you know we wanted to come out on that is is somewhat akin to what
you said which is a result based
or performance based
uh... metric in terms of compensation so i won't say anything more about that
but i'm hopeful that your comments
might help us
uh... get to a conceptual resolution
i will be
uh... i also agree on what you said about it one day trial on both of these
motions i i i agree wholeheartedly with that
and although it i i think it's quite difficult we we think we can do that
the problem
is i'll call the problem this week is the problem and let me tell you why
uh...
and again all we really want is to have a level playing field that's all we ever
want you as you know
sometimes we take on very much uphill battle for cases and
and uh...
something i'd love to do and and that may be the case here uh...
but we will take it on but we just want to have a level playing field and and a
fair opportunity
to present a case both argument and and the evidentiary records so let me just
tell you why
trying to do that this week is virtually impossible i think impossible
uh...
we we received last night as you know this morning uh...
uh... the debtors filed a fourteen page expert declaration
and a twenty three page witness declaration of about two o'clock this
morning
uh... those related to the car
we're told that they will
i don't know if they'll be similar in length or what but there will be
other declaration filed by tomorrow
on molus on the molus retention
uh... and you're on a really expect we did file mister manning's uh...
declaration
uh... we do expect to have what i call a more
both of that relation
uh... probably from somebody
uh... more senior
uh... at m three which we expect to be in the pile today at some point of the
evening
uh... those those would be the uh... the declarations that you had before you
uh... but we would also expect to father uh... we we have we have no documents
uh... we try to do this informally and just ask for any documents
that would either supportive of the motions
where that would be used at trial in support of the motions
uh... we don't have those i'm not complaining about it but we need to get
those in fairly short order
so that we can properly prepare
uh...
we have not been able to do any deposition as you i think you're on
the post-correct
but just with you we will witness it
uh... even except in the debt the death that had been filed
there would be being uh... it would be missed out trial
it would be
this call
uh... there would be on our side it would be m three our expert deposition
uh... we also were considering your honor having a committee member
testify
obviously uh... somebody who's
interests are directly affected in both cases because then and all of us
on the best in front of the consideration your honor so
that would be uh... it and if we do have that person
that would be at least
or deposition that have to take place
and we would need to get the other day the documents
uh... even if that would happen today or tomorrow
uh... we would then need to conduct for deposition
and get ready for trial
i
i've got a lot of crazy stuff under time
a compressed time your honor
i don't think we can do that by by Thursday certainly not
uh... i really don't think we can do it by Friday and i'll be honest your honor
uh...
having a weekend to properly get ready for trial often is critical
because even if we finish the last deposition
thursday
we wouldn't have a transcript
so Thursday night
and then we need time obviously to review the transcript
prepare our examination to cross examinations
and get ready
so long story short your honor
uh... what i'm not complaining about the time compression here
uh...
i thought we were going to go
uh... was
there there's a hearing scheduled on the thirtieth on monday
uh... and my my my realistic hope out of today while i would have hoped for even
a better result what i thought was going to happen
was you would tell us will move everything will hear everything
on monday that would give us a reasonable period of time to do what we need to do
and get ready for uh...
you know for everything
uh... on trial on monday
i'll just stop there and take a breath your honor and see if you have questions
or want to hear from others and i'm happy to
you know i i didn't want to address any of this
the substance that it
i think that's what we would hear for appropriate
uh...
if there's anything if you have questions are i'm happy to address
your honor it's robert stockard
i i have
i didn't want to say anything i think i could offer something that might be
helpful in some context
if you're not going to allow me i know that's not normal for having you
no go ahead
thank you all i want to say that the i'd be very very confident
when you are
with saying look
it's a car
and it's a retention application
we should be able to work these things out
and i
only embrace the tonality of that we haven't been able to work it out
and i think it's important that your honor
appreciate that i think it's in the text of the documents but it's more in the
subtext of the document
and uh... i think this is really what i'm
about evidentiary presentation
what we have here your honor not an operational company
today doesn't make anything about the time you can't really provide services
there are a hundred employees that are getting paid
it sort of
maintain idle
and then the retention is to convert idle into something that
open headquarters believe
could be more valuable
in terms of a creating this the estate
turn it off
they may be right they may not be right
our position is that we just don't understand it
before the decision has been made
but this is not the normal better and make spent about what happens when our
credo
you double-digit
double tens of millions of dollars as we're trying to figure that out and
maybe that contested matter
will help elucidated discovery is produced when we learn to discover in
the trial what ultimately
is the risk or profile of expanding fifteen twenty twenty five million more
because more expensive
about an idle company in this industry environment
is it's terrible to reorganize or because i have the question
it's not just these expenses
it's the whole that you have to fill on top of that
in terms of money that's there to kind of move the company forward
between twenty million of the fifty million on top of the twenty twenty
five million thirty million of the expense
and we have to start in the two hundred and sixty million
our customer deposits
and i want to ask them
what they think about it
that's the front text of the ball
so you are the other nation presentation of not just a corrupt in the normal way
is this possible we need a person and you know that's necessary it's really
maintaining
idle
so that if the strategy that the better want to have
is even forward to that you know more value and the people who
is my mistake or not really been able to understand the answer the question
that the issue that
undergird the evidentiary presentation that the the the dispute that undergird
this whole contested matter
we can't we don't understand where you're going to take a kind of understand
before you spend all the money
at the beginning of our
there are no help for you
not fair enough thank you
anyone else on the committee side
miss bill ski for u s trustee
do you want to weigh in before i go
turn to the better
thank you and and uh...
he's been a part of it
part of the reason i think we're here because of the conflict that just
responded by all the time
regardless of my hearing
and that he can be traveling for something work related
and you will not be available until friday the twenty seven
and to play
that the court and and
not the only one that i needed to be happy
the primary at any other issues
and uh... the possible that i have to be present here that
and i think that it's a no other conflict
on the end
near a few of them
uh... let me turn to the debtor
uh...
this is rather
this is a hard to thank you honor you you start off today sharing by
referencing appropriately so
that's been class professionals
and before i introduce
uh... mister stuff bar to address the court
really fall into that category
if you are to be sure that the
uh... but my friend mister star
references and mister donors
the need for additional time
uh... you know we were involved in this year's case and
there were you know
dot knows how many deposition conducted
within a very short period of time
and just reading was quick to
understand that declarations as
direct evidence
uh...
clearly make the process go
esther
and we have it here so
i would just before mister stuff barbett that's the court
i i i would respectfully suggest your honor
that let's get the show on the road
these are big farms with a lot of talent
and they can put the resources that are necessary
to present to your honor
in exactly the day that you described
there's nothing unique about the retention of investment banker
there's nothing unique about
uh... the car key we have the pleasure of doing it for your honor
i think in two or three hours
in the service of case
so uh...
the lady doesn't help anybody
and uh... i'll now turn it over to
uh... my friend mister stuff barb
thank you missus robertson suspect
and thank you honor and uh... very much appreciate time
uh... i think originally
we had scheduled the court for friday
uh... and most retention
for monday
uh... light of the comments from the u.s. trustee
i think from our perspective is critically important echo mister
charlotte's comments that we get these calendars
and we've been prepared to go forward
with the curb on friday and if necessary
uh... more on monday or if we could do more on friday
we're happy to do that too i think you know from the substantive perspective
mister stark walked into it a bit
uh... there's a fundamental disconnect
between the company
and the committee at this point and it's incumbent upon
our team
to try to correct that over the course of this week which will be and we can do
that
at the same time that the discovery is ongoing
missus don't expect correct documents have been produced and
mister slayton address all that necessary but i don't think it is
at core
and at the bottom
i think the committee believes that we will ultimately end up in a liquidation
and we have the debtors
have a fiduciary obligation
to run out everything in a ground ball
as i like to say
and that's exactly what we're doing and that's what we've done in other similar
cases
and everybody needs to understand
but even if ultimately the result
with a return of customer money
the amount of time
the cost and energy
including at the investment banker level
it's so substantial
that it's not as simple
as simply giving people their money back and i live this through Voyager and everyone
is going to hear
through the direct testimony and argument
exactly that concept
and from the company's perspective
we've severed most all of our workforce as mister starkin said
we need these people
to be employed
this is a curb
not a key
all the executives are taking themselves out of the rain
and in order for us
to either pursue a value maximizing
or concern a third party sale
or even a self liquidation
these employees are critical
and delay in having this approved
and more so with molus
who's out in the marketplace
but no one any benefit
so you are we will
spent time
with the fighters that we always do a bit of a working relationship
but that's the fairly we always agree
and that's part of the process
but we will work
if you can get to a result
but i have a career on friday
animal protection or later than monday
very very important in these cases and we have to hire
if that those hearings today
all right thank you mister suspect
any response or anything else anyone wishes that
if you are just real quick this is my credit for the debtors also i'd
out of the one hand like other discovery and i've worked with the church out of
dot
many many cases before
i've we've gone through this uh... number of times i just want to confirm
for the court that we have
you know they are witnesses available for deposition on wednesday with respect
to court
we've identified who they are
and there's no reason that can't go forward
uh... with respect to documents i did what he said he wanted is
all documents that support the park
that's not a particularly uh...
you know i direct uh... request for information but
if there's any information he walked i'd have to have a conversation
i get a better thing out he was there's no reason for both deposition can't go
forward on one thing
were prepared to the post mister manning
and uh... i think there's no reason that that this can't go forward to get
done before the hearing on friday
we've done it many times before
this is not dot bread surgery
you're not a permanent
we're not talking about
whichever better that mister store that mentioned to you or it's not going to
re-enter the usual case
and now the committee is not dr conclusion
about whether or not this company's reorganize the power
well
or liquidate
we've been very clear that work you want to study the issues because
they took all of the crypto converted into cash
put it in the bank account
and one of you about ten percent of it
you're on that mister sasberg said
all of the ground ball
i think it's
and my community is pretty clear in their view
but that's a lot of money relative to the entirety of the estate
and we kind of want to understand
if we're reorganizing if this is asked number one what does that number two
look like we are a couple weeks ago
and yet to see a business plan yet to find out what the whole is
but now the
but being proposed from all this is to compensate them
if that were to happen
and the fair i think we all can read the newspaper and look outside and sort of
even through the windows blowing out there
paying people to stay in that possibility
it doesn't look very likely looking at the press and transactions out there
that we will get any money for but we have to sign up to a very large free
uh... we totally want to work this out
we've never wanted to have a contested matter of the first time i was out
will present all issues
orderly
and have a fair hearing on everything and we want to minimize it
you know that's not about both ways to if you can actually issue that sort of
internal way
but the tonality of what we're doing
in the family we ask the questions because not only be able to understand
that after asking
we have to do it in that position to do it back for the coming
okay i guess that's how we're going to do it
this is not a small matter this is not just any old carpenter not just any old
retention
it's a ten percent of the estate in its present format
before anybody's had a mac and and and ability to assess whether or not the
path and the top of being allocated to these people
actually is just burning their money
that's the question
nothing much more than that we wanted a little bit of time to ask questions
before
that's how to protect that
mister start my friend
uh... spend more time preparing
for the argument hopefully this week
as opposed to doing that
we're doing now
so we can all get out there
i think that suggested under five and back to you
do you think that
i can feel the love of the friendship
uh... so
uh...
but anyone else
it
uh... it it it it it it it's just a little bit of a little bit of a
uh... don't think
it's reasonable to have
at least three maybe four
deposition
on wednesday and thursday
and be required to be ready for trial on friday
understood
uh...
i guess i'm going to
put you all to the task though
uh... at
i i i don't think the estate i don't think the employees i don't think the
better and i don't
necessarily think the creditors
are going to benefit by delay
uh... and having more
uh...
uh... time
that i lose the thursday the friday that we set aside for this week
uh...
then the in the monday
i will certainly put i'll put off though
molus
uh... retentive but i could do that as part of the day
on friday
will put that on for the monday
that gives us
uh... the full day
uh... on that friday
it gives
you all unfortunately the burden of
getting your ducks in order
uh... on tuesday wednesday and thursday
uh... will hear argument and get a better picture and maybe some of those
answers will occur
over the next three days
uh... and maybe the calls for additional time but
uh... we don't get anywhere if we don't start
so let's start
uh... i appreciate
i appreciate the concerns
we have to start
uh... this is
uh... this was scheduled
uh... a long time ago with the case was filed in november
uh... the end of november
and uh... were already in the end of january
uh... so
it's time
if counsel can agree now as far as the pending motions to seal and i know the
u.s. trustee is objected
on both of both the debtor and the committee
filed their
uh... recent declarations
uh... under seal uh...
i'll rule on them the motion at the outset on
for purposes of the hearing
let's proceed it uh...
use initials instead of names
uh... uh... front
uh... and will be able to go forward and protect
interests
going forward
uh... at least prepare for that
and uh...
in the interim
if there are concerns
tend to work
if their discovery issues
if there's something that arises that you need my attention
reach out for chambers will have a
probably not a zoom call will have a
uh... comfortable have
so it's a series of calls
mister stoltz as you have raised
actor and
to help you know
are moving to feel it can look like they've been through the morning
so we're going to turn that into a party yeah we're going to move
i'm moving everything that was off of the twenty fourth
the the moles
matter will be on for the thirtieth
that monday
will move everything to the friday
uh... the twenty seventh
uh... and
on friday let's start at nine o'clock if you don't mind
so we have the most of the day
and uh...
again with this plan on a half hour break for lunch
but if this is a rising in in the
or you need the court's assistance
just reach out
thank you very much about the fact that you should thank you
thank you