In re the Monetary Group

118 B.R. 114, 1990 Bankr. LEXIS 1576
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, M.D. Florida
DecidedJuly 9, 1990
DocketBankruptcy Nos. 84-428-BK-J-GP, 84-430-BK-J-GP, 84-431-BK-J-GP and 84-433-BK-J-GP
StatusPublished

This text of 118 B.R. 114 (In re the Monetary Group) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, M.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re the Monetary Group, 118 B.R. 114, 1990 Bankr. LEXIS 1576 (Fla. 1990).

Opinion

FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

GEORGE L. PROCTOR, Bankruptcy Judge.

This case is before the Court upon objection by the post-confirmation administrator, Louis Lowin (“objector”) to claims filed by Leonard C. Levie (“Levie”) in the following estates: The Securities Group, number 26; The Securities Group 1980, number 47; The Monetary Group, number 37; The Securities Groups, number 26.

[116]*116Upon the evidence presented, the Court enters the following Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law:

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. Claimant is a graduate of the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, Johns Hopkins University and the Harvard Graduate School of Business. After graduation, he was employed by Lehman Brothers, specializing in the trading of United States government bonds with long-term maturities and the corresponding financial futures traded on the Chicago Board of Trade. Subsequently, Lehman Brothers created an Arbitrage Desk for him in United States government securities.

2. Levie left Lehman Brothers at the end of 1978 after having been contacted by Charles Atkins (“Atkins”) and Kenneth Kaltman (“Kaltman”) to join them in a new enterprise to be known as The Securities Group (“TSG”). He agreed to leave Lehman Brothers based upon TSG’s offer of a 3 year employment contract which included a base salary and a formula for determining a bonus based upon net trading profits.

3. Levie joined TSG in the early part of 1979. The terms were initially set forth in a written employment agreement dated December 1, 1978, and were modified in a revised agreement dated October 1, 1979. At the same time, TSG employed two other traders, Joseph Riley and Richard Gonzales. The five traders were thus Levie, Gonzales, Riley, Kaltman and Hageman. Kaltman and Hageman later became general partners in The Monetary Group (“TMG”) and The Securities Group 1980 (“TSG80”).

4. Concurrent with the formation of TMG in October, 1979, Levie entered into employment agreements with TMG and made a revised employment agreement with TSG. These employment agreements were virtually identical with those of the other traders, differing only on the percentage of compensation received from a bonus pool. Levie’s agreements provided for “3% of net trading profits” as incentive compensation.

5. Shortly after entering into the revised agreement with TSG and the new agreement with TMG, a joint venture known as The Securities Groups (Groups) was formed as a general partnership under the partnership laws of the state of New York.

Groups was created to pool the assets of TSG and TMG so that those assets could be traded cohesively and to eliminate dispute among the limited partners as to which partnership received certain profits or losses.

6. After the formation of Groups, Atkins and Kaltman told Levie that Groups was formed as a joint venture between TSG and TMG for the purpose of trading. They further informed him that he would act as a trader for Groups, that all his trades would be through Groups, and that Groups would be shown at the top of each trading ticket. All paperwork generated by buying, selling and confirming trades would be in the name of Groups. Levie was considered a treasury bond trader for Groups.

7. The Joint Operating Agreement scheduled the terms and conditions under which TSG and TMG would conduct their businesses and provided that as general partners TSG and TMG would participate proportionately relative to their capital accounts.

8. Prior to the formation of Groups, Levie received his remuneration from TSG. After the formation, Levie and other traders received pay and bonuses from Groups. Also after November 1, 1979, the trading and other activities of the general partners of Groups were conducted through Groups.

9. Groups, as a New York general partnership, made bonus payments to traders, for which there was a charge back to the general partners pursuant to the joint operating agreement.

Under the joint operating agreement, the component partnerships of Groups had “unlimited liability for the repayment, satisfaction and discharge of all debts, liabilities, and obligations incurred in connection with the operation of the joint operating account.”

[117]*11710. In November, 1980, a new limited partnership, known as The Securities Group 1980 (TSG80), became a general partner of the joint venture Groups. TSG80 was allocated a specific percentage interest in the general partnership entity. The profits, losses and tax items of Groups were to be shared pro-rata amongst the general partners in proportion to their relative capital assets.

After TSG80 was added to the joint venture, Levie’s activities changed only to the extent that he traded with larger volume and with the associated greater risks.

11. When TSG80 was created, Levie was informed that an additional fund of money was coming into Groups, and that it would be his responsibility as a trader to continue to trade with increased volume within Groups. When Levie questioned Kaltman (a general partner of TSG80) whether his base salary would change and bonus computation would change, he was told that his salary would remain the same, but that the bonus calculations under the existing employment agreements would be applied against the combined results of all the partnerships, including TSG80.

12. Levie was employed by TSG80 from November, 1980, to September, 1981, for which there was no written employment agreement. However, he still worked under the TMG and TSG agreements, the only exception being that his bonus would be based on net operating profits including TSG80. The general partners of TSG80 agreed that the net trading profits of TSG80 would be included in determining the traders’ bonus pools for 1980 and 1981.

13. Richard Gonzales (“Gonzales”) was a bond trader and employed under agreements substantially similar to those of Lev-ie, including a base salary and a bonus of 3% of net trading profits. Gonzales received the following annual bonuses: 1979 —$60,000; 1980 — $200,000; 1981 — $375,-000. For the same periods Levie received: 1979 — $60,000; 1980 — $100,000; and 1981 —$0.

14. Levie upon receiving his 1980 bonus of $100,000 requested a copy of the bonus calculation. He was allowed to review numerous documents and informed that if he had any problem with the calculation it would be cause for termination. General partners Gubitosi and Kaltman further informed Levie that he would not be provided with a written copy of the calculation. To date, Levie has never received a calculation.

15. Clause 8(a) of Levie’s employment agreements with TSG and TMG provides in relevant part:

The Company’s independent Certified Public Accountants shall compute Net Profits from Trading in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles utilized by firms in similar businesses and this Paragraph. A copy of the computation of Net Profits from Trading shall be provided to the Employee as soon as possible after the close of the fiscal year, but in no event later than six (6) months after the close of the fiscal year for review and verification, including the right, at Employee’s expense to audit the books of the Company provided, however, if any, material error is discovered, such expense shall be that of the Company.

16. Contrary to these terms, the bonus calculation resulted solely from decisions of Atkins, Hageman, Kaltman, and Gubitosi.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Hustad v. Edwin K. Williams & Co.-East
321 So. 2d 601 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1975)
Navimex S.A. De C v. v. S/S "Northern Ice"
617 F. Supp. 103 (S.D. New York, 1984)
Bird v. Computer Technology, Inc.
364 F. Supp. 1336 (S.D. New York, 1973)
Pospicil v. Hammers
365 P.2d 228 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 1961)
Waldman v. Englishtown Sportswear, Ltd.
92 A.D.2d 833 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1983)
Simmons v. Santoro
36 Misc. 2d 409 (New York Supreme Court, 1962)
Torreggiani v. Coffee of Columbia, Inc.
49 Misc. 2d 785 (Civil Court of the City of New York, 1965)
Dour v. Village of Port Jefferson
89 Misc. 2d 146 (New York Supreme Court, 1976)
Kama Rippa Music, Inc. v. Schekeryk
510 F.2d 837 (Second Circuit, 1975)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
118 B.R. 114, 1990 Bankr. LEXIS 1576, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-monetary-group-flmb-1990.