The ju
(Source: Wikimedia Commons)
dge overseeing Detroit's historic bankruptcy has signed off on an $85 million settlement involving two banks tied to a horrendously complex financial deal to shore up the city's pension systems.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes previously rejected two offers involving Bank of America and UBS, an international bank based in Switzerland with affiliates that are also represented by Jones Day, the law firm where Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr previously worked. But the ruling today ends a costly 2005 pension-related debt involving a hedge bet known as "interest rate swaps" that went sour.
As Curt Guyette noted in this week's Metro Times, essentially, interest rate swaps are a bet on the direction in which interest rates would move: If they increase, the city reaps the benefit; if they went down, the city would owe the banks. Thanks to the economic downturn in 2008-2009, interest rates plummeted, causing the city's annual payments to spike to nearly $50 million. The banks said they were owed $270 million. Under the settlement approved today, the city will save nearly $185 million, paying roughly 30 cents on the dollar.
Spun another way, as attorney Jerome Goldberg pointed out this week, the swaps deal itself should've been invalidated. As Guyette reports, Goldberg contended the city should've filed suit claiming that, and, Rhodes had previously indicated, the city would've likely prevailed. Detroit News reporter Chad Livengood, at the courthouse this morning, tweeted that Rhodes mentioned Goldberg's point, that if the city were to sue the banks and win, not only would it have to pay nothing, it could potentially recoup the $300 million it has already forked over since 2009.:
Judge Rhodes acknowledges attorney Jerome Goldberg's objection to the $85M amount. Goldberg thinks the banks should be nothing for swaps.
— Chad Livengood (@ChadLivengood) April 11, 2014
Nonetheless, Rhodes said today, even though that outcome would be favorable for the city, the $85 million settlement was "reasonable."
As The Detroit News notes today, the settlement gives Detroit the ability to help force cuts in pensions and health insurance on retirees and plan for what's known as a "cram-down," which, under bankruptcy law, would force creditors to accept payments.
