Paul Traub

Paul R. Traub (born January 31, 1952, Brooklyn, New York) is an American lawyer, who specializes in business law, specifically bankruptcy, insolvency, and trial litigation.^[1] He has participated in several large retail bankruptcies, among them Kmart, FAO Schwarz Inc., KB Toys Inc., Stage Stores, Office Max, and eToys.com. Other clients have included Halston, Joan & David, Levitz, Bombay Company, Linens 'n Things, Zales, and Whitehall Jewelers.^[2]

Education and affiliations

Traub graduated from Massapequa, New York High School in 1969. He received his Juris Doctor degree from Golden Gate University in 1977, and his Bachelor of Arts degree from the State University of New York (SUNY), at Buffalo in 1973.^[1] He was admitted to the New York Bar Association in 1978. He is admitted to the New York, U.S. District Court Southern, Eastern and Western Districts of New York; the U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit; U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Wisconsin.^[1]

He is a member of the American Bar Association (Member, Insolvency and Litigation Section; American Bankruptcy Institute; Association of Banking and Commercial Law Firms; Commercial Finance Association; Commercial Law League of America, (Bankruptcy and Insolvency Section); New York State Trial Lawyers Association; Turnaround Management Association, and Member, Salvation Army Manhattan Advisory Board {1985-1989}.^[1] He was once interviewed on Fox News Business, a cable-TV news channel.^[3]

Career

Traub Bonacquist & Fox

Traub is the founding member and managing partner, of Traub, Bonacquist, and Fox, a New York-based boutique law firm specializing in bankruptcy and business reorganization matters.^[4] In September, 2006, Marc Dreier, sole equity partner of Dreier, LLP, acquired the boutique law firm. Paul Traub became a Dreier partner and co-chair with Norman Kinel of the Bankruptcy and Business Reorganization group.^[5]

On December 5, 2008, after Dreier's arrest for being involved in an alleged scheme to sell $700 million in fictitious promissory notes,^[6] Traub and the other bankruptcy lawyers resigned and restarted Traub, Bonacquist & Fox.^[7] In February, 2009, Epstein, Becker & Green, a firm specializing in government contracts, brought the seven-member Traub/Dreier bankruptcy team into their New York office.^[8]

Etoys.com Bankruptcy

Traub represented the Creditors in eToys.com bankruptcy. The dotcom company filed for chapter 11 protection toward the end of the Internet bubble on March 7, 2001. The Office for United States Trustee accused him and his New York law firm of a conflict of interest, non-disclosure, and employing non "arms length" key personnel, ^[9][10] because of his business partnership with Barry Gold. In April, 2001, Traub founded Asset Disposition Advisors, LLC ( "ADA"), a Delaware liquidation company, with Gold, located at his Manhattan law office.^[11][12]

Traub also appointed Gold CEO of eToys.com one month after forming ADA, while Gold had been receiving paychecks from Traub's lawfirm.^[12] The Court ruled in favor of Traub: Gold's participation in ADA with Traub was not sufficient to establish a conflict of interest, although the judge said failure to disclose such relationships in future could lead to sanctions. "In the future ... the failure of an officer of a debtor to disclose such relationships will subject that officer to review and possible disgorgement of compensation, if the court concludes that the relationship constitutes an actual conflict of interest." ^[13][14]

Author

Traub co-authored with Susan F. Balaschak: "Legal Perspective: Protecting Your Holiday Shipments," The PriceWaterhouse Trade Credit Reporter (November/December 1998); "Going Out of Business Sales: Balancing the Interests of Landlords, Creditors, Regulatory Agencies and the Public in Chapter 11 Retail Cases," Journal of Bankruptcy Law and Practice, Vol. 9, No. 1 (November/December 1999).^[1]

References