We have to keep in mind that the examiner was not tasked with appraising and I say that word with a loud voice, the "remaining assets of WMI." He was tasked with establishing whether the litigation the equity committee wanted to push forth in objection to the GSA was feasible. He concluded, along with the court, the GSA was "fair and reasonable."
We must also keep in mind, the debtors went into bankruptcy to shed the equity and preferred debts of WMI. They knew on day one, that the FDIC has listed the stock of WMB as a 100% loss to them, the treasury department had already passed a new rule that treated the resulting NOL as a "unrestricted ordinary loss." They knew the value of this loss could potentially make the exiting owners of WMI after bankruptcy a fortune and they put in place a plan to make that happen.
If it had not been for Bulldog Joe pushing for an EC, they would have succeeded in the "sinister plan" they put into place. There was a WMI Lawyer at the time by the name of Charles Smith (current interim CEO of WMIH) who most likely was privy to this plan, since he was a representative of the BOD of WMI. As I have said on here many times, "I do not trust this man!" I can not wait for the day he is relieved of his duty and a real CEO steps in and runs this country. I hope WMIH is already vetting candidates. It is not going to Mike Willingham, he is currently Chairman, most Chairman do not become CEO's.
Now as for "unvalued assets" at the time of the examiner report. WMI raised over 2 Billion by selling assets and doing 365 sales. Visa shares, etc... They used the funds to pay off the creditors and will the company to the shareholders and preferred shareholders. When looking at the books (pre-bk) of WMI, one can easily deduce that valuing mineral, land, right of ways, easements, etc was not done. I for one, do not believe the examiner even looked at what WMIH had in terms of assets, he only was tasked to decide of the GSA as negotiated by the creditors, and debtors was "fair and reasonable." Which he concluded. He also was tasked with deciding the litigation requirements of the EC in terms of risk vs rewards. He decided the litigation would not succeed in terms of time and money to litigate, it would be more costly to the estate to let the litigation proceed, in relation to recoveries.
Is there a good chance, that WMI retained the assets that were "on the books?" No, we know they sold them, and exited with 75 Million in Cash and WMMRC. . But, is there a chance there are assets that were held "off the books?" YES...I for one, can not conclude there is not, so I will side with the fact, that in other bankruptcies, the assets that were presented to the court, were undervalued on purpose, as to let the debtors extinguish equity and exit with new owners. The FDIC was involved in this one, so I would not put it past them to have seized the assets of the holding company and keep these assets out of the purview of the bankruptcy court using the statute that exists, that allows this, because appraising them for "real value" as required by statue, was not an option at the time they seized the operations and books of WMI in relation to their claim the Bank and WMI were "one in the same."
I do not know what these assets are, but many on here have listed them in tandem and it not entirely unlikely they did not do this, because they have done it previously. Sheila Bair is/was a corrupt individual and was in contact with Jamie Dimon as early as Sept 4, 2008, when she phoned him at home. FDIC was in contact with JPM in July 2008, in a secret meeting to give JPM "color on what they wanted." Tim Main of JPM wrote in an email the FDIC was comfortable with JPM's Project West plan, that resulted with WMI shareholders being left with zero. Also When Fishman became CEO he put forth a plan to the FDIC (posted here yesterday) that detailed how the bank could be re-capitalized.
FDIC did not want WAMU around anymore, so they executed a takedown, Shelia said "WAMU was a bad -run bank." in her defense of the takedown and "not real-value sale of WMB to JPM.". They also did not want WMI to have the power to fight the seizure, so they pushed them into BK and denied their claim per the "receivership process." Many on here can write a book about this travesty and the how the judicial process allows for extinguishing of equity in most bankruptcies, but never truly values the "on the books" assets and uses the 365 sale process to liquidate a debtors assets, as is the case of WMI, with their blessing, they were selling these assets at ridiculous prices. The fact that JPM sold the tower and may have retained the funds, is ludicrous, but if WMI had a commericial mortgage with WMB, then that was part of the "whole bank" process of the PAA.
I believe if there are "off the book" assets of WMI, it is ones that were not easily sellable at the time and ones, that would/could/may be returned to the estate (WMILT), once the FDIC has finished off the claims, litigation, adjudication and execution of closing out the PAA. One must look to the past in terms of how long this can take. There was one posted here awhile back, that was still in process after 10 years. I expect the FDIC-R is wanting to settle these claims and close out this chapter this year, so I would say by the EOY, we should have an answer on what the FDIC held back from the court, is not uncommon for them to do this. It is also not entirely unbelieveable, that would not practice a historical way of doing things with the terms of the Washington Mutual Bankruptcy.
I do believe that the "sealed docs" are the "off the books" asset list of WMI and after seeing these docs, THJMW muttered 10 Billion from the bench and changed the entire way the bankruptcy was headed. She parsed her words, but she also tipped her hand to the equity committee.
Blue
AI
