hotmeat, until closed it is open...
...that is always true. The bankruptcy is literally at the postmortem though the Liquidating Trust winding down the claims, tax refunds and settling the PIERS then, if possible, addressing lower tranches.
Regarding non-bankruptcy recovery tracks, I'll give you that nobody knows how such will end; I merely point out that there is no reference anywhere to any non-bankruptcy recovery litigation, or justice investigation that relates to the takedown of WMB or the insider trading of the hedge funds (pre-seizure, and post-seizure as ad hoc creditors with knowledge of the deposit account first, then the extended NOL carryback tax refunds of almost $6B).
Regarding non-WMI justice investigations by US or state enforcement, those (IMO) appear to have been solely to punish banks (like WMB (Long Beach), acquired by JPM) for pre-petition actions. In the settlements so far, NO DOLLARS have even been whispered as 'owed to shareholders. In fact, in today's political and enforcement environment, 'punishing shareholders is an objective to force corporations to hold management and Boards of Directors accountable for such "heinous" behavior (for example, making a profit overall, and specifically for making sloppy loan decisions giving homes to people who couldn't afford them in order to comply with the Community Reinvestment Act). These AWARDS are going to the government agencies, state agencies, borrowers, etc. Again, none in any direct or indirect mention or opportunity to shareholders.
So, IMO, that is bleak. But, you are correct, all of such is technically not CLOSED. And, I agree, nobody knows how everything will end.
Regarding the P&AA, there is no ambiguity on assets (IMO). The only ambiguity is on unrecorded, MBS and foreclose title perfection liabilities for pre-petition actions. There are also some small ones for post-petition actions. The FDIC and JPM are litigating "who" is obligated for WMB's pre-petition (WMI, after WMB seizure) conduct and MBS trusts (under Deutsche Bank) and others, losses due to underwriting irregularities.
The comments on the 3.1A go back to the beginning, and it is correct that it is not attached. However, the reference paragraph in the P&AA is clear that they bought the assets of WMB. As we later found out, with the corporate organization chart of WMB, that is where everything but the kitchen sink was in the WMI family. It would have been nice if they published that corporate structure at the beginning and attached it to the P&AA, but they didn't.
