Fraud allegation in Intelsat bankruptcy
December 13, 2021
December 10th saw a submission entered into Intelsat’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy hearing which used the phrase ‘actio pauliana’, which translates as meaning ‘designed to protect creditors from fraudulent legal transactions’.
The phrase was used by Luxembourg lawyer, Yann Hilpert, in his declaration to the court. He said that under Luxembourg law, an actio pauliana is a legal term brought by creditors to challenge acts done by their debtors in alleged fraud of certain rights. Hilpert is a lawyer acting for a number of creditors known as the ‘Jackson Crossover Group’.
The Luxembourg complication is that many of the Intelsat businesses were formally located and financially domiciled in Luxembourg because of its favourable taxation advantages.
Hilpert’s submission says that he had been asked to investigate and analyse (by the Jackson Crossover Group) whether, “in the facts and circumstances here, a Luxembourg court would find Intelsat SA’s and Intelsat Investment Holding Sarl’s (the “TopCo Guarantors”) release of their guarantees (the “TopCo Guarantees”) of three series of unsecured notes (the “Jackson UnsecuredNotes”) issued by Intelsat Jackson Holdings, S.A. (“Jackson”) to be ineffective if challenged under actio pauliana under Luxembourg law”.
The lawyer states that he believes a Luxembourg court “would likely find that the facts and circumstances surrounding the TopCo Guarantors’ releases here satisfy all five elements of an actio pauliana claim”.
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