"Financial Engineering" = Hire Counsel in "Longstanding Romantic Relationship" with Bankruptcy Judge? "David R Jones made Houston the nation’s insolvency capital before an undisclosed relationship forced his resignation and prompted calls for reform." Happy Thanksgiving, America! Another self-important, self-serving institutional fixture distorts U.S. law to puff up himself, and also to benefit his "concealed" live-in partner, "a lawyer who frequently worked on matters assigned" to the SISSIF (self-important, self-serving institutional fixture). See Financial Times "The downfall of the judge who dominated bankruptcy in America" by Sujeet Indap. “'There is simply no ambiguity in my mind,' said Judge David R Jones as he made a ruling last May in the bankruptcy case of Serta Simmons Bedding, LLC, a large, private equity-backed mattress company. “'And I appreciate that perhaps a different court reached a different conclusion but, again, I sit in with these matters every single day . . . this is very easy for me.' Jones was then the chief judge for the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas federal bankruptcy court and based in Houston. "His decision cleared the way for a slim majority group of creditors to take control of the company and leave another group’s holdings close to worthless. Serta Simmons Bedding, LLC itself would go on to quickly exit court supervision, as the company wished." II The "ruling cemented the status of Jones as the ultimate kingmaker in big US bankruptcy cases — so far in 2023, of the 54 large Chapter 11 cases filed, 25 landed in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas, where only two judges, including Jones, oversaw large restructurings. This near-majority was more than those total bankruptcy filings in the traditional stalwarts, Delaware and New York, combined."
