TelexFree Bankruptcy Class Action

Over the past week, the TelexFree Bankruptcy Trustee sent an email with subject line “TelexFree Notice of Net Winner Deadline” to members of the classes of Domestic and International Defendant “Net-Winners” in Adversary Proceedings 16-4006 and 16-4007.

Please read the Trustee’s email closely. It contains important information that we at Milligan Rona Duran & King LLC fought for your right to receive. We have reviewed the Trustee’s email to ensure that it clearly instructs you on how to protect your rights.

Based on our input, the Trustee recently sent the above-mentioned email notice to class members like yourself. The email contains an individualized website link. Clicking the link will take you to a website that allows you to view which user accounts the Trustee attributes to you. The website also permits you to claim additional user accounts that belong to you.

Background

The Trustee currently holds millions of dollars in estate funds. The Trustee intends to use these funds to pay who it believes are TelexFree “Net-Losers,” identified based on the Trustee’s aggregation of user accounts and earlier-filed proofs of claim.

The Trustee’s aggregation is not foolproof, however, and we successfully lobbied the bankruptcy court to give class members an opportunity to alert the Trustee that there may be disputes over the ownership of certain user accounts. The Trustee will not distribute estate funds for any user account if there is an unresolved dispute over its ownership.

Why Should Class Members Claim Their Additional User Accounts?

By claiming your additional user accounts, you alert the Trustee that there may be a dispute over the ownership of the additional user accounts. The Trustee will not distribute estate funds for any disputed user account until the dispute is resolved at a later stage in the bankruptcy litigation. You also preserve your ability to argue that the claimed user accounts offset your liability, if any, during later stages of the bankruptcy litigation.

Although you are not required to claim all additional user accounts that belong to you, there may be consequences for failing to claim user accounts. For example, if John, a class member, fails to claim his user account called abcuser and Jane, another TelexFree participant, has already claimed abcuser in a proof of claim, John forfeits his chance to later argue that abcuser properly belongs to him. If abcuser carried a negative balance, John’s failure to claim abcuser loses him the opportunity to later use abcuser’s negative balance to offset his liability. In other words, failing to claim your user accounts now may result in the eventual overstatement of your potential liability.

We have insisted on this process to give you an opportunity to claim your user accounts before the Trustee pays estate funds to TelexFree “Net-Losers.” The sole purpose of this process is to preserve your right to claim user accounts that belong to you. The Trustee has agreed not to use the information that you provide through this claims process as evidence against you in later stages of this litigation.

Concluding Thoughts

For more detailed information on this topic, please see the Bankruptcy Court’s Order dated December 26, 2017, Docket #955.

Because of our role as advocates for the class, we cannot answer questions about the circumstances of individual class members. Please direct such questions to your own attorneys.

Thank you for your attention. We will continue to vigorously advocate for your collective rights, and we will alert you with additional updates as they arise.

Regards,
Ilyas J. Rona, Esq.
Milligan Rona Duran & King LLC