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VideoSuccess Story: Defending Solvency in a Complex Real Estate Fraudulent Transfer Dispute
Bankruptcy & Restructuring Services
Forensics & Litigation Services
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The Client
This client, referred to Weaver’s forensic and litigation team by its accounting advisory team, was the holder of a ground lease interest in a complex, large-scale New York City real estate redevelopment project. As a ground lessor, the client held a significant interest in a complex development project involving substantial real estate assets and long-term financing arrangements.
The Challenge
The matter arose within a Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding involving allegations that the ground lease structure functioned as a disguised financing arrangement and that certain amendments were executed while the counterparty was insolvent.
Our team was retained less than two weeks before the scheduled deposition of the opposing expert, who had issued a detailed solvency and valuation report analyzing the ground lease, related financing and project financials. Within this compressed timeframe, the team needed to assess extensive case materials, financial records, development assumptions and expert analyses.
The technical nature of the issues spanned real estate economics, structured finance and bankruptcy solvency principles and required our team to deliver clear, actionable insights under significant time pressure to support counsel’s deposition strategy in a high-stakes litigation matter.
The Process
Our bankruptcy and restructuring team conducted an accelerated, structured review of the opposing expert’s solvency and valuation report. The team focused on isolating the most consequential assumptions and conclusions underlying the expert’s opinions and identifying areas susceptible to challenge during deposition.
Weaver performed a detailed assessment of the expert’s analytical framework, including solvency tests, valuation methodologies and the treatment of the ground lease and related financing arrangements. This included evaluating how key inputs such as projected cash flows, asset values and liability characterization impacted the expert’s conclusions. Our team then translated these findings into clear, defensible insights aligned to deposition strategy with an emphasis on credibility, internal consistency and methodological rigor.
Throughout the process, we worked in close coordination with counsel, iterating quickly as new questions arose and refining the analyses to align with evolving deposition strategy. The result was a focused, actionable roadmap for challenging the opposing expert’s testimony on both technical and conceptual grounds.
The Deliverables
Because of the tight timeline, deliverables focused on maximizing usability for deposition preparation. Our team conducted working sessions and calls with counsel to walk through key analyses and findings, developed targeted observations related to the opposing expert’s key assumptions, provided structured guidance for deposition questioning and delivered concise, actionable insights that could be directly incorporated into deposition strategy in real time.
These deliverables equipped counsel with a practical framework for evaluating the expert’s opinions, preparing lines of questioning and addressing complex solvency, valuation and financial structuring issues during the deposition process. Following the deposition and before trial, the plaintiff’s case was dismissed.
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Success Story