Opinion ID: 3163898
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Factual Nature of the Order

Text: First, the order at issue here differs significantly from the order in Brennan. There, we vacated an order directing the debtor to repatriate assets held abroad and deposit them in a court registry. Here, the applicable order is merely an asset freeze, which, unlike the order in Brennan, neither transfers ownership, nor vests control over assets in the courts, nor—given its numerous exemptions for legal, medical, educational, and other uses, as well as generous living expenses—entirely deprives the Relief Defendants of their use. To be sure, the asset freeze order entered by the District Court does temporarily burden the use of certain assets. It does not, however, rise to the level of impermissible enforcement of a money judgment. Unlike the repatriation and deposit order in Brennan, the asset freeze seeks not to modify or transfer assets in any way, but rather, merely to “preserve the status quo in anticipation of a final 19 judgment.”44 We regarded as “a close one” the question of whether Brennan’s substantially more burdensome repatriation and deposit order constituted enforcement of a money judgment.45 The significantly less onerous asset freeze at issue here falls on the other side of the line. Relief Defendants attempt to characterize the freeze as an impermissible “step []preparatory to money collection” that is functionally equivalent to Brennan’s repatriation and registry deposit order.46 The argument is strained and unpersuasive. By that logic, many or most aspects of statutorily unstayed governmental unit actions could be characterized as “steps preparatory to money collection,” so long as the initial complaint sought monetary relief. We decline to adopt the interpretation of the exception urged by Relief Defendants, which would effectively swallow the rule.