Orr's firm, Jones-Day, numbers Citi & others among its clients.
How is this not conflict of interest?
Orr testified that he believed the city’s potential in succeeding in this complaint, which could recover up to $500 million from these banks, was 50-50.
Pursuing this complaint against the banks would net real revenue to rebuild Detroit’s neighborhoods which were destroyed by approximately 100,000 foreclosures resulting from the predatory lending practices of the banks.
Incredibly, instead of pursuing this complaint, this week Emergency Manager Orr is going to the bankruptcy court to seek approval of a “deal” that was negotiated last week to pay Bank of America and UBS $165 million plus $4million in breakage costs to terminate the interest rate swaps which have already netted the banks about $300 million in profit.
He will also seek approval of a loan from Barclays at interest rates up 8.5% to pay this $165 million to UBS and Bank of America, secured by a $48 million per year lien on city income tax revenues for the next 4 years, which amounts to about 20% of all income taxes collected.
Rather than going after the banks to make them repay the city for the destruction they have caused, Emergency Manager Orr is opting to allow the banks to continue their stranglehold over Detroit’s finances, ensuring that services, jobs and pensions will continue to be slashed.
http://detroitdebtmoratorium.org/kevin-orr-go-after-bank-of-america-and-ubs-not-city-of-detroit-pensioners-and-city-services/
Then there's this:
Orr did not explain what “legal analysis” allowed Detroit’s former Chief Financial Officer Sean Werdlow to take a top level management job with Siebert, Brandford and Shank (SBS), UBS’ partner in the COPS deal, nine months after Council approved the deal in 2005. Werdlow was in that position in 2006 when the deal was re-negotiated to cover 30 instead of 14 years, and is now COO of SBS.
U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Steven W. Rhodes’ head popped up as Orr attempted to gloss over the CFO issue, failing to name Werdlow. Rhodes demanded his name. It will be enlightening to see how Rhodes rules after eliciting this apparently undisputable evidence of bribery of a city official.
http://detroitdebtmoratorium.org/kevin-orr-go-after-bank-of-america-and-ubs-not-city-of-detroit-pensioners-and-city-services/
And this:
Wallace Turbeville, senior analyst at Demos, who Judge Rhodes barred from testifying at the trial, raised the service corporation issue in a special report on the Detroit bankruptcy in November, 2013. Turbeville also noted that the POC’s were used as a substitute for voter-approved bonds, constituting an end run around the right of the city’s residents to decide its level of indebtedness.
Rhodes said he barred Turbeville, a former Wall Street banker, from testifying because he wanted to wrap up the trial by Jan. 6, saying he (Rhodes) “would not be available” after that day.
http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/01/12/em-orrs-detroit-bankruptcy-testimony-banks-could-owe-city-billions-related-to-fraudulent-cops-swaps/
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