Legal and consulting fees and expenses in the Diamond Comic Distributors bankruptcy case totaled $1,018,824 for July, despite the fact that transactions to acquire most of the company’s assets closed in May.
Diamond’s attorneys and restructuring consultants accounted for the bulk of the fees: Diamond attorneys Saul Ewing LLP billed $437,769, and restructuring consultants Getzler Henrich & Associates LLC billed $417,599.
Other amounts included $134,129 for Unsecured Creditors Committee attorneys Lowenstein Sandler LLP, $19,223 for the Unsecured Creditors’ local counsel Tydings & Rosenberg, and $10,104 for the Unsecured Creditors consultants Berkeley Research Group LLC.
Including the $3,338,928 billed by investment bank Raymond James & Associates, Inc., total fees in the bankruptcy now total approximately $13.75 million.
Legal fees seem likely to jump as the disputes around the bankruptcy are litigated. The most significant right now is the dispute over Diamond’s efforts to seize and sell consignment inventory, which now include 31 adversary proceedings (see “Diamond Files Against 31 Vendors“), and multiple motions before the court. Two others could generate significant fees as they get closer to trial: Alliance Entertainment’s proceeding against the Diamond companies and advisors over the disclosure that Alliance Game Distributors, then in the process of closing on purchase of the Diamond companies, was losing Wizards of the Coast as a supplier (see “Alliance Entertainment Sues Diamond“); and the proceeding by Diamond comic asset acquirer, Ad Populum company Sparkle Pop LLC, against Alliance Entertainment LLC over the hiring of a number of Diamond employees.
Source: ICV2
