Mr. Stevens is a commercial restructuring lawyer whose practice focuses on the representation of trustees, creditors’ committees, debtors and creditors in complex bankruptcy cases, debt restructurings and related litigation.
Mr. Stevens employs a practical, results-oriented approach that helps his clients maximize value on their investments, and find money in the tough cases. Mr. Stevens also routinely serves as a bankruptcy trustee and examiner in chapter 7 and chapter 11 cases.
Education:
St. John’s University School of Law – JD
St. John’s University – BS Finance
Bar and Court Admissions:
State of New York
State of Massachusetts
U.S. District Courts for Southern and Eastern Districts of New York
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
U.S. Tax Court
Professional Affiliations/Memberships:
Steering Committee for the New York City Bankruptcy Assistance Project
Chapter 11 Lawyers’ Advisory Committee for the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of New York
American Bankruptcy Institute
National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees
National Association of Federal Equity Receivers
Significant Fiduciary and Arbitration Roles:
- Served as Member of Arbitration Tribunal in ICC Matter – Ace Group Intl., LLC v. 225 Bowery LLC
- Served as Examiner in In re Gateway Kensington LLC
- Served as Chapter 11 Trustee of EMC Hotels and Resorts LLC (The Time Nyack Hotel), EMC Bronxville, La Cremaillere Rest. Corp., Meyzen Realty, and 2111 Albany Post Road Corp.
- Served as Post-Confirmation Fiduciary for the Malibu Lighting Creditors’ Liquidating Trust, Auburn Armature, and Atari Inc.
- Serves as Court Appointed Receiver in Spin Capital, LLC v. Golden Foothill Insurance Services, LLC
Significant Representations:
- Chapter 7 Trustee of Fyre Festival LLC, the failed music festival created by Billy McFarland and Ja Rule.
- Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors and Post-Confirmation Trustee for FKF 3, LLC, a $60 million real estate investment fund. Obtained over $50 million in judgments after a five-week jury trial on fiduciary duty and fraudulent transfer claims in 2018.
- Debtor in the Chapter 11 construction case of Advanced Contracting Solutions LLC. Obtained authority to sell the assets of the company over objections of multiple labor unions and employee benefit funds (decision reported at 582 B.R. 285 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 2018).
- Debtors in the Chapter 11 cases of Hypnotic Taxi, LLC and related debtor-owners of New York City Tax Medallions, owned by Evgeny Freidman.
- Debtor in the Chapter 11 case of Hospital Audiences Inc., a storied New York City arts charity.
- Chapter 7 Trustee in Revolate Holdings, an advertising firm and investment vehicle, in connection with a multimillion-dollar settlement of director and officer liability claims.
- Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors for Spectrum Healthcare LLC, Sonix Medical Resources, Inc., Word World LLC, Cavalry Construction, Inc., OMC, Inc., Lehr Construction and Cool Sheetmetal Inc.
- Numerous defendants of avoidance recovery actions in MF Global bankruptcy cases
- Petitioning Creditors in involuntary cases of Jacoby & Meyers – Bankruptcy, LLP and Macey Bankruptcy Law P.C.
- Estate of Hilly Kristal as a secured lender in the CBGB Holdings, LLC bankruptcy case
News:
- Manhattan hotel-turned-shelter leads to ICC award, Global Arbitration Review (Nov. 9, 2022)
- Bankruptcy trustee says yacht deal defrauded Heritage credit union, Westchester & Fairfield Cty. Bus. Journals (May 3, 2022)
- Fyre Festival Trustee Files 14 Lawsuits Over Payments to Blink-182, Kendall Jenner, Pusha T, Rolling Stone Magazine (Dec. 16, 2019)
- Fyre Fest Bankruptcy Trustee Issues Subpoenas for Hulu, Netflix, Stubhub & Billy McFarland’s Mom, Billboard (Apr. 17, 2019)
- TIME Nyack Hotel in Rockland County bought by Juniper Capital, Lohud (Apr. 2, 2019)
- Real estate investment firm bids $18.53 million for TIME Nyack Hotel; sale finalized March 25, Lohud (Mar. 7, 2019)
- Bradley Industrial Park For Sale In Bankruptcy Settlement, Rockland Cty. Bus. Journal (Feb. 19, 2019)
- Clock is Ticking On The Time Hotel’s Fate, Rockland Cty. Bus. Journal (Feb. 4, 2019)
- Fyre Fest Trustee Seeks to Widen Probe Into 3rdParties, Law 360 (Jan. 10, 2019)
- Fyre Fest Trustee Seeking Wide Probe Into Ja Rule, Others, Law 360 (Nov. 16, 2017)
- Coming Back From Bankruptcy: How We Fixed Healing Arts Initiative, New York Nonprofit Media (June 5, 2017)
- Famous Famiglia Pizza Mogul Files For Bankruptcy After Failed Venture, New York Post (Jan. 26, 2015)
- Jacoby & Meyers Bankruptcy liquidation stays alive – U.S. judge, Reuters (May 28, 2014)
- Judge Wants Chapter 7 for Jacoby & Meyers Bankruptcy, WSJ Blogs (May 28, 2014)
- Firm Challenged Venue of Bankruptcy Petition, New York Law Journal (April 16, 2014)
- Trouble at Jacoby & Meyers Bankruptcy LLP Raises Concerns at Other Jacoby Firms, New York Law Journal (March 26, 2014)
- Creditors Hoping to Force Jacoby & Meyers Into Bankruptcy, Law 360 (March 18, 2014)
- No Tuition Refund For Staten Island Couple: Judge Rules Parents Benefit From Kids’ Parochial School Education, Staten Island Advance (December 13, 2013)
- Bankruptcy Trustee Targets Catholic Schools, New York Post (October 13, 2013)
- Troubles Mount for N.J. Assemblyman, The Star-Ledger (August 8, 2012)
- Mid-Hudson Firms Victimized in Bankruptcy Case, Times Herald-Record (July 30, 2012)
- Kristal Estate Open to Selling CBGB Name, The Wall Street Journal (October 14, 2010)