Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the amount of money Dreier LLP owes to creditors holding secured claims. The figure is approximately $30 million.
Three days after disgraced attorney Marc S. Dreier was released from jail to begin house arrest at his Manhattan apartment, papers filed in the Dreier LLP bankruptcy proceeding reveal that Dreier's 250-attorney firm might not be insolvent after all.
According to a summary of schedules filed Monday with the Southern District of New York Bankruptcy Court, Dreier LLP has $59 million in assets and $42 million in liabilities, some $30 million of which is owed to creditors holding secured claims.
Last year, Dreier, the firm's sole equity partner who stands accused of bilking investors of $400 million, received more than $4 million from the firm.
Salaries for contract partners at Dreier LLP ran the gamut with some -- like bankruptcy lawyer Paul S. Traub and intellectual property attorney Seth H. Ostrow -- earning in the range of $1 million or more, according to the statement of financial affairs.
The firm also paid considerable sums to Dreier's relatives, including nearly $27,000 to his 19-year-old son, Spencer, one of two signatories on the $10 million personal recognizance bond put up by Dreier.
While the filings caution that the bankruptcy trustee cannot vouch for the accuracy of the figures, which are based on an unaudited copy of the firm's books and records, Tracy Klestadt of Klestadt & Winters, who represents the creditors' committee in the Chapter 11 proceeding, said he believes the records are in "good shape."
In an interview, Klestadt said the next step in Dreier LLP, 08-15051, is for the court to set a deadline by which creditors must file proofs of claim that ultimately will be reconciled with the amounts listed in Monday's filings.
