* Gonzalez was a Manhattan bankruptcy judge
* Berkshire Hathaway had asked for examiner
* Judge agreed in June to appoint an examiner
July 3 (Reuters) – Arthur Gonzalez, the former chief
bankruptcy judge in Manhattan, was named the independent
examiner to investigate details of the bankruptcy of home lender
Residential Capital LLC, according to a court filing made on
Tuesday.
Berkshire Hathaway, which is seeking to buy two of
ResCap’s loan businesses, asked Manhattan Federal bankruptcy
court in June to appoint an examiner to look into pre-bankruptcy
financial transactions between ResCap and its parent company,
Ally Financial. Berkshire had said the transactions were
“potentially improper” and wanted an examiner to evaluate them.
ResCap objected to the examiner proposal, but U.S.
Bankruptcy Court Judge Martin Glenn approved Berkshire’s request
at a June hearing. Susan Fitzpatrick, a spokeswoman for ResCap,
said by e-mail on Tuesday that ResCap looks forward to working
with Gonzalez. A spokeswoman for Ally Financial was not
immediately available.
ResCap filed for bankruptcy in May in Manhattan with a plan
to sell two groups of assets for about $4 billion to two
separate buyers, Nationstar Mortgage Holdings and Ally.
After Berkshire stepped forward as an interested buyer for both
businesses, it replaced Ally as the low bidder, or “stalking
horse”, in an auction of the mortgage loans that will take place
within a few months.
Gonzalez, who is a professor of bankruptcy law at the New
York University School of Law, retired as Chief Judge of the
Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan in March. He had been a judge in
that court since 1995, overseeing some of the largest U.S.
bankruptcies including Enron, WorldCom and Chrysler. He held the
top spot since 2010.
Before becoming a judge, he was a United States Trustee, an
employee of the U.S. Justice Department who oversees the
bankruptcy process.
