Faculty of law blogs / UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

Amicus Brief on the Scope of the Bankruptcy Safe Harbor for Securities Settlement Payments

Posted

Time to read

2 Minutes

Author(s)

Ralph Brubaker
Bruce A. Markell
Charles W. Mooney, Jr.
Mark J. Roe
David Berg Professor of Law, Harvard Law School

Bankruptcy Code § 546(e) contains a safe harbor that prevents avoidance of a securities settlement payment, e.g. as a preferential or constructively fraudulent transfer. This amicus brief was filed in Merit Management Group, LP v. FTI Consulting, Inc., No. 16-784 (U.S.). The brief explains how § 546(e) rationally constrains its scope via the statutory specification that the safe harbor only applies (because it need only apply) if the “transfer” sought to be avoided was allegedly “made by or to (or for the benefit of)” a protected securities market intermediary, such as a stockbroker or a financial institution.

Ascertaining the meaning and function of that determinative scope language requires an understanding of (1) the concept of a “transfer” as the fundamental analytical transaction unit throughout the Code’s avoidance provisions, and (2) the relationship between that avoidable “transfer” concept and the inextricably interrelated concepts of who that “transfer” is “made by or to (or for the benefit of).” By its express terms, § 546(e) only shields a challenged “transfer” from avoidance if (1) that transfer was “made by” a debtor-transferor who was a qualifying intermediary, “or” (2) a party with potential liability—because the challenged transfer allegedly was made “to or for the benefit of” that party—was a protected intermediary. Thus, the transfer of cash to a stock seller and of the stock back to the buyer is not safe-harbored. The delivery of the cash (and the stock) through financial intermediaries, however, is.

The full amicus brief may be found here. This post was originally published here.

Ralph Brubaker is Professor at University of Illinois College of Law, Bruce A. Markell is Professor at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, Charles W. Mooney, Jr. is Professor at University of Pennsylvania Law School, and Mark Roe is David Berg Professor of Lawat Harvard Law School.

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