Milbank v. Sharpshooter II, Inc. (In re Worldwide Diamond Ventures, LP)

559 B.R. 143
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Texas
DecidedSeptember 27, 2016
DocketCase No. 13-35115-SGJ-7; Adversary No. 15-03121-SGJ
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 559 B.R. 143 (Milbank v. Sharpshooter II, Inc. (In re Worldwide Diamond Ventures, LP)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Milbank v. Sharpshooter II, Inc. (In re Worldwide Diamond Ventures, LP), 559 B.R. 143 (Tex. 2016).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND FI-NAL JUDGMENT: (A) GRANTING SUMMARY JUDGMENT ON “REASONABLY EQUIVALENT VALUE” ISSUE; (B) AVOIDING CONSTRUCTIVE FRAUDULENT TRANSFER; AND (C) AWARDING MONETARY DAMAGES TO BANKRUPTCY TRUSTEE

Stacey G. Jemigan, United States Bankruptcy Judge

I. INTRODUCTION: THE TALE OF THE PINK DIAMOND

The above-referenced adversary pro-ceeding (the “Adversary Proceeding”) per-tains to an alleged fraudulent transfer in-volving a 6.32 carat “Brown/Pink natural fancy diamond” (hereinafter the “Pink Diamond”). The debtor-company, World-wide Diamond Ventures, LP (the “Debt- or”), purchased the Pink Diamond for the aggregate sales price of $600,000, approxi-mately two-and-a-half years before the Debtor filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The Debtor quite clearly overpaid for the dia-' mond. But there is so much more. The facts in this Adversary Proceeding are rather sensational, to say the least.

The story begins in the year 2010. Start-ing then and at most times prior to its 2013 bankruptcy filing, the Debtor promot-ed itself as a partnership that specialized in the arbitrage of high quality, unique diamonds.1 More specifically, the Debtor was in the business of raising private in-vestments from individuals for the alleged purpose of buying diamonds, at hopefully below wholesale prices (supposedly from cutters or exclusive foreign sources), and then reselling them through various chan-nels to create a profit. Things did not turn out as planned. While the Debtor’s finan-cial history is hardly clear, it appears that approximately $5 million of private investor money was raised, and only about $2.2 million of that was actually spent on dia-monds—most of which were not resold at a profit.2 The unrefuted evidence was vague as to where all the other investment funds went3—but there were a few rather interesting explanations, one in particular involved a multi-million dollar loan supposedly made by the Debtor to a third-party, which loan was allegedly collateralized with a Rembrandt painting housed in a storage facility in Sarasota, Florida.4 As was typical with this Debtor, disappointment was sure to follow. The loan was not repaid and no Rembrandt painting was recovered to pay off the loan. The Rembrandt that “was not there” is not even the strangest, of all transactions in which the Debtor allegedly endeavored. The Debtor’s principals have also represented that the Debtor lent money to certain third parties that were going to bring gold dust to the United States from the African country of Ghana, which gold dust could then be sold

[145]*145for a profit.5 As with the transaction involving the Rembrandt, there was no loan repayment and no gold dust ever materialized.

In any event, the Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee (the “Bankruptcy Trustee” or the “Trustee”) alleges that the Debtor grossly overpaid for the aforementioned Pink Dia-mond, and the transaction amounted to a constructive fraudulent transfer. The Trus-tee has now sued the seller of the Pink Diamond—a Texas corporation known as Sharpshooter II, Inc. (the “Defendant” or “Sharpshooter”), pursuant to sections 544 and 550 of the Bankruptcy Code and Texas Business and Commerce Code §§ 24.001 et seq., seeking recovery for the difference between the value of the Pink Diamond and the $600,000 the Debtor paid for it.

The Pink Diamond itself was actually brought into the bankruptcy court at one hearing in a tiny plastic zip-lock bag (along with a jewelry expert to verify its authen-ticity).6 It was—in a word—breathtaking. The Pink Diamond was square with slightly rounded corners, set in a platinum band, with triangular shaped colorless (white) diamonds on the sides. For a bankruptcy judge, a day in court does not get much better than this.7 But in all seriousness, the evidence presented in the Adversary Proceeding was overwhelming and unre-futed that the Debtor significantly over-paid for the Pink Diamond. The Trustee in this case ultimately entered into a court-approved arrangement to have the Pink Diamond offered for public bids by the Sotheby’s auction house in New York, at its widely advertised “Magnificent Gems” international auction, and the best bid sub-mitted was a disappointing $210,000. This bid was within the general range of other prices at which the Pink Diamond had been sold, during its known history of being bought and sold. Apparently the Pink Diamond was not dark pink enough to be in the extremely rare category (it is brownish pale pink). Perhaps if the Pink Diamond contained a unique flaw in the center, which resembled the image of a “leaping panther,” which might be seen when held in the light a certain way, it would have proved to be much more desirable than it has turned out to be.8 In any event, the Bankruptcy Trustee has pre-sented overwhelming evidence that the Debtor received less than reasonably equivalent value for the $600,000 it paid at a time when there were many creditors and the Debtor was insolvent. This court holds that there is no genuine issue of material fact in dispute here and the Trus-tee is entitled to summary judgment as a matter of law. The court’s reasoning is set forth bélow,

II. JURISDICTION, VENUE, STATU-TORY AUTHORITY, AND PROCE-DURAL POSTURE

A. Jurisdiction.

As noted, this is a fraudulent transfer action. Bankruptcy subject matter jurisdic[146]*146tion exists in this Adversary Proceeding, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1334(b). This bankruptcy court has authority to exercise bankruptcy subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 157(a) & (c) and the Standing Order of Reference of Bank-ruptcy Cases and Proceedings (Mise. Rule No. 33), for the Northern District of Tex-as, dated August 3, 1984. This is a core proceeding in which this court has statuto-ry authority to issue final judgments, pur-suant to at least 28 U.S.C. § 157(b)(2)(H).

The Defendant did not file a proof of claim in this bankruptcy case, and originally demanded a jury trial and did not con-sent to the bankruptcy court issuing a final judgment. Thus, originally, this court did not have Constitutional authority to adju-dicate this Adversary Proceeding.9 However, at a bankruptcy court status conference held on July 7» 2016, the Defendant with-drew on the record its demand for a jury trial and its non-consent to bankruptcy court adjudication. Thus, this court has Constitutional authority to enter a final judgment in this Adversary Proceeding.10

B. Venue.

Venue is proper in this district, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1409(a), as the Debtor’s chapter 7 case was filed in this district.

C. Statutory Authority.

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Bluebook (online)
559 B.R. 143, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/milbank-v-sharpshooter-ii-inc-in-re-worldwide-diamond-ventures-lp-txnb-2016.