Case Studies

Financial Advisor to Ch. 11 Trustee of Mobile Phone Retailer

J.S. Held Acquires Shechter & Everett to Expand Forensic Accounting Capabilities for Family Law Disputes in Florida

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Home·Financial Advisor to Ch. 11 Trustee of Mobile Phone Retailer

The Situation

A mobile phone retailer with thousands of employees and nearly 700 kiosks nationwide struggled with post-pandemic supply chain challenges. It carried significant payroll, rent, and other overhead expenses and was not profitable. When it failed to receive key mobile phone inventory for the 2022 holiday season, management ended its contracts with Costco and military bases, terminated more than 1,800 employees, and the company became insolvent.

How We Advised

Our experts were appointed Receiver to provide financial and operational support during the liquidation and wind-down of the business. The company entered Ch. 11 bankruptcy two months later. We recovered over $62MM as Receiver and then Financial Advisor to the Ch. 11 Trustee through the following key actions:

  • Collected over $30MM in outstanding A/R after our forensic accounting investigation uncovered disputed A/R and credits from large customers (Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile) and critical vendors
  • Leveraged key employees to reclaim $18MM in inventory scattered across 550+ Costco stores and military bases
  • Determined management’s delay in initiating a wind-down process before the receivership resulted in substantial financial harm to creditors, then supported the Bankruptcy Trustee’s litigation, resulting in a $14MM D&O insurance recovery
  • Untangled substantial operational expenses, critical contracts, and personnel commingled with a sister company
  • Oversaw the company’s 1,800 employees
  • Negotiated with a landlord to successfully exit a $150K+ monthly lease within 3 months of the receivership appointment

Obstacles Encountered & Our Solutions

  • Uncovered $18MM in A/R and inventory credits disputed by large customers (Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile) and critical vendors due to the company's poor billing and collections practices.
    • Our experts reconciled company records against customer and vendor records to accurately reflect the receivership estate’s assets, avoiding significant legal fees.
    • We ultimately collected $30MM in outstanding receivables from certain customers and vendors. 
  • $18MM of inventory (including new, used, and demo phones and accessories) was scattered across 550+ Costco and military base stores nationwide.
    • Our experts had the company’s legacy operating personnel coordinate the return of assets.
    • We designed, received court approval, and managed an inventory disposition process.
    • Our experts exercised contractual return rights to return approximately 1MM pieces of encumbered inventory to the lienholder at cost, thereby saving administrative costs and minimizing bankruptcy estate claims.
  • Two months into the receivership, an attorney representing a group of unsecured creditors filed an involuntary bankruptcy petition, resulting in jurisdictional oversight by the bankruptcy court.
    • Our experts reported to both bankruptcy and state courts on matters related to assets, contracts, and pending motions in front of the state court.
    • The appointed Bankruptcy Trustee appointed J.S. Held experts to carry out essentially all efforts previously in the process as a receiver.
    • We assisted the company with preparing and filing the Initial Bankruptcy Schedules and provided reports to the Trustee for court filings. 
  • The company’s shared services agreement with its sister company created a substantial commingling of operational expenses, critical contracts, personnel, etc.
    • Our experts identified facility, software, IT, and benefits contracts needed for wind-down activities. Then, they submitted an initial motion to the court rejecting approximately 80 executory contracts to save $200,000 in monthly operating costs.
    • We reconciled shared service amounts due from the sister company and collected over $1.0MM. 
  • The company had a $150k+ monthly lease obligation for its 20,000 square foot headquarters office in Seattle that was approximately 10% occupied after pre-receivership layoffs.
    • Our experts negotiated with the landlord to successfully cancel the lease within 3 months of the receivership appointment.
    • Our team, the Trustee, and counsel sought to reject the lease contract in the bankruptcy case to take advantage of the benefits of bankruptcy law’s limit on damages calculation.

Key Contact

Jake Diiorio
Managing Director
Strategic Advisory Practice
+1 213 235 0609
[email protected]

Related Practice Areas

> Receiverships
Federal and state courts, creditors, and legal counsel choose our team to serve as Receiver of distressed businesses and real estate entities. We stabilize operations and cash flow, safeguard business assets, and pursue methods to maximize financial recovery. Our multidisciplinary team applies a wide breadth of restructuring and industry experience as Receiver to take control of companies facing financial, operational, and legal issues.

 

> Solutions for Distressed Situations
We deliver integrated solutions for distressed and insolvent businesses that maximize recovery, mitigate risk, and restore enterprise value. Our experts are retained to help distressed organizations stabilize operations, protect stakeholder interests, and execute turnaround strategies. We take an operationally-focused approach that looks beyond the balance sheet to minimize further degradation and build a path to sustainable growth.

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