Sentinel May Owe Up to $491 Million, Trustee Says
By Andrew Harris
Sept. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Sentinel Management Group Inc., the bankrupt Chicago-area cash management firm, may owe $491 million because of its accounting and trading practices, the firm's court-appointed trustee said.
Frederick Grede, the former Hong Kong Futures Exchange chief appointed by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge John Squires to run Sentinel, told a meeting of creditors today that the firm also borrowed heavily against its securities portfolio without disclosing those loans to its clients.
``The whole thing began to implode,'' with the tightening of credit markets last month, Grede told more than 20 creditors listening in person and by conference call at the U.S. Trustee's office in Chicago.
Sentinel, based in Northbrook, Illinois, filed for bankruptcy protection Aug. 17 in Chicago federal court. The firm has about $861.5 million in assets and at least $1.15 billion in debt, Grede said. Sentinel's debt could be as much as $200 million higher, he said.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has sued the firm, accusing it of co-mingling client assets with each other and with the firm's assets.
No attorney appeared at the creditors' meeting on Sentinel's behalf. Reached by phone at his office, Sentinel bankruptcy attorney Ronald Barliant declined to comment.
Principal Asset
The firm valued the securities it held, which Grede claimed were its principal asset, at their cost plus accrued interest, rather than at their market value, the trustee said. Discrepancies in the results yielded by each methodology account for the wide range of potential liability, he said.
``We do not think this is a case of missing securities,'' Grede told the creditors. The trustee, who was appointed Aug. 29, said his preliminary review has matched most of Sentinel's creditors with the assets held by the firm.
Capital Fund Management, a Paris-based hedge fund manager, has said its Discus Master Fund could lose as much as $407 million in the Sentinel bankruptcy. Its lawyer, Arthur Hahn of Chicago-based Katten Muchin Rosenman, attended today's meeting.
He declined to comment on Grede's report.
The case is In re Sentinel Management Group Inc., 07-14987, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois at Chicago.
To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Harris at the federal courthouse in Chicago aharris16@bloomberg.net .
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aj0X9Xiz1g0Q
By Andrew Harris
Sept. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Sentinel Management Group Inc., the bankrupt Chicago-area cash management firm, may owe $491 million because of its accounting and trading practices, the firm's court-appointed trustee said.
Frederick Grede, the former Hong Kong Futures Exchange chief appointed by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge John Squires to run Sentinel, told a meeting of creditors today that the firm also borrowed heavily against its securities portfolio without disclosing those loans to its clients.
``The whole thing began to implode,'' with the tightening of credit markets last month, Grede told more than 20 creditors listening in person and by conference call at the U.S. Trustee's office in Chicago.
Sentinel, based in Northbrook, Illinois, filed for bankruptcy protection Aug. 17 in Chicago federal court. The firm has about $861.5 million in assets and at least $1.15 billion in debt, Grede said. Sentinel's debt could be as much as $200 million higher, he said.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has sued the firm, accusing it of co-mingling client assets with each other and with the firm's assets.
No attorney appeared at the creditors' meeting on Sentinel's behalf. Reached by phone at his office, Sentinel bankruptcy attorney Ronald Barliant declined to comment.
Principal Asset
The firm valued the securities it held, which Grede claimed were its principal asset, at their cost plus accrued interest, rather than at their market value, the trustee said. Discrepancies in the results yielded by each methodology account for the wide range of potential liability, he said.
``We do not think this is a case of missing securities,'' Grede told the creditors. The trustee, who was appointed Aug. 29, said his preliminary review has matched most of Sentinel's creditors with the assets held by the firm.
Capital Fund Management, a Paris-based hedge fund manager, has said its Discus Master Fund could lose as much as $407 million in the Sentinel bankruptcy. Its lawyer, Arthur Hahn of Chicago-based Katten Muchin Rosenman, attended today's meeting.
He declined to comment on Grede's report.
The case is In re Sentinel Management Group Inc., 07-14987, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois at Chicago.
To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Harris at the federal courthouse in Chicago aharris16@bloomberg.net .
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aj0X9Xiz1g0Q