a dispute between the trustees of the consolidated bankruptcy estates of mr lakota himself related company and parties known as the mako parties this settled claims that have gone on for many years  primarily in state court proceedings in new jersey and reprieve and represented a remarkable turnabout by the trustees sting's they have litigated those claims in new jersey state court for years they had one two whether that's just flat out wrong given this letter you said your honor the letter we submitted at least raised the question that the value of the assets will well in excess of twelve point six million one hundred twenty million dollars and i feel would have required the board to at least take a further look at that rather than rely on the unsworn evidence that the really argue letter swore no it was not it was also on sworn  but it was the trustee burden to come forward and convince the court that this was a good seven and that ties also into stand because they did not come in a present any evidence of the value of the assets it was simply statements by counsel it was also the hundred twenty million dollars issue your honor was just statements of counsel that they had reviewed the claims and had determined that of two hundred million that have been filed perhaps one hundred twenty million dollars worth of claims is good there and part of the problem is these claims had been filed many many years before these cases go back two thousand two and i was like the answer to my question is that there was nothing on earth and the lerner and there's you know not withstanding that up until january two thousand and fourteen they had indicated that they were ready to go to trial very valuable they then turned about and said well we're going to take up one point five million dollars and those were other issues of the not necessarily relate to all of these assets your honor and i would note that ultimately the new jersey litigation did go to trial and with the trustees out the  was not a substantial exaggeration to say that mr mako had defrauded at least sixteen and titties and persons including the judge in his own bankruptcy case back in one thousand six judge brown who is a judge that heard the case in vermont and judge shift himself here so what would what the panel is being asked to do is to approve a settlement that was approved without the appropriate simply argue that in light of the presentation that was made to judge shift and the and the lengthy history of this that there were a lot of issues that have been heard before the court this have been going on for twelve years by the decision not only did he ask for a full evidentiary hearing when that was to ninety s may i please ask some questions of the trustees under oath so the court can determine whether the whether the trustees have properly considered the appropriate standard under the caribbean case and was denied that as well so i would i would submit that the standing the court should send this case back for further financially he's a chapter seven debtor in a chapter seven debtor only has standing if he can show in his the debtors burden to show this that there is a reasonable possibility of a surplus in the case the claims against the first connecticut bankruptcy estate are two hundred seven million dollars as shown by the claims register the claims against of a kind of bankruptcy estate are two hundred fifty one million dollars are shown by the claims adjuster there have been a series of small reductions in that because of objections filed by the trustee but the claims registers in both both reflect claims in excess of two hundred million dollars they're both deemed allowed under the united states bankruptcy code and they're both and they're also deemed to be prima facia evidence of an allowable claim under the federal rules of bankruptcy procedure the trustee did tell the bankruptcy court the based on his analysis he believed the claims would be reduced to about one hundred twenty million dollars after reducing duplicate but that is nowhere near the value of the assets that was presented to the bankruptcy court the assets are supported sales of those claims for six point two six million dollars for five million dollars at auction the price of the claims was right raised to approximately eleven point two five million dollars but the most anybody would actually pay for the assets waiver of a secured claim that should have been in priority to the bankruptcy estates it would raise it to approximately six point five to seven point five million dollars there not a moment there was a twelve million dollar offer to purchase the assets in chapter seven that was made pursuant to an option and purchase agreement by an entity known as c b three acquisitions c b three page seventy five thousand dollars obtained an option to purchase the assets for twelve point six million dollars but did not exercise its option within a year assets at one million dollars i can understand why a party that had an option to buy an asset package for twelve point six million for about one billion dollars worth of assets didn't exercise its option books i don't understand why mr  he was the debtor in possession would agree to sell one billion dollars worth of assets for a total amount of eleven point two five million or lesser amounts which he urged the banquet he called to approve if what he was sitting on was a one billion dollar  the mcmorris letter values real estate in jersey city new jersey the bankruptcy estates never own real estate and uses jersey city jersey the bankruptcy as state's own causes of action between mr lakota and mr mark nominee for eight thousand different reasons including the three contemporaneous agreements between the a from of them are now absolutely reaffirmed what vermont found based on all of that evidence and the evidence in bankruptcy court the proof of claims are of their evidence that the bankruptcy court can and should take note of the bankruptcy sales provide evidence to the bankruptcy court the decision of judge brown in vermont is a decision that the standing he didn't make a colorable claim for standing because his only dispute with the claims register was the argument of counsel of the said quote i don't think i see one hundred million dollars worth of claims here and the only evidence he put in with regard to the asset value was a letter that said that the assets are worth one billion dollars from somebody who is only to look at his lawyer told the bankruptcy court was neither a broker nor an appraiser it contained hearsay it contained opinion evidence without any methodology or any qualification the judge found the bankruptcy judge found that of insignificant probative value and the district court agreed for all of those reasons mr lakota failed to carry his burden that he had standing in the bankruptcy case because he failed to carry his burden that there was a substantial possibility that he would that there would be a surplus in the bankruptcy case that could go to him using a reasonable possible thank you  i just note that on the issue of the amount of the claims the counsel for the trustees indicated that the total amount of the claims in the claims registered for reduced by duplicate claims for the most part which got  them two hundred two hundred twenty million dollars there's no evidence and there's no representation of the trustees have ever made any effort to review the balance of the claims register to determine whether those claims are appropriate or not and until the january  point on the claims was simply that up until january of two thousand and fourteen when this particular settlement was submitted there was no reason for mr le cotton to bring jackson's to claims and at that point he would have had to prosecute dozens of objections to claims to try and establish just as opposed to being given an opportunity to apprise the court of his knowledge concerning the validity of those