Employee shareholder files petition with the bankruptcy court - worth reading

See:

http://www.kccllc.net/windstream/document/1922312190311000000000004

22-year, former Alltel employee says she lost $600k in bankruptcy. She lays out the details of the 401k set up, referring to Windstream "Kool-Aid" and "the Stream".

She petitions for the formation of an equity shareholder committee to represent the interests of the shareholders. It's both an amateur filing by a non-lawyer -- and a sophisticated document from a layman who's had some legal advice or done a lot of research.

I wish her luck. In the bankruptcy I worked with, there was such a committee but it was hijacked by the attorney, an ambulance chaser not viewed as very credible by all the other attorneys.

Mostly he just ran up a big bill. The attorneys for the different committees are paid out of "the Estate" -- that is the bankrupt company -- on a priority basis ahead of the other creditors.

In the case of that company, there was enough value such that the original shareholders came out still owning 40% of the company -- a lot better than zero. It might have been 41 or 42% without the equity attorney's bills. He was totally useless and worked at cross-purposes to everybody.

I don't know if the judge will appoint a committee or not. If there's no chance of recovery for the shareholders, he may decline to impose the additional legal fees on the Estate. If there is a chance, he probably will.

Two observations:

In bankruptcy court, trust and credibility are everything for the lawyers. They practice in this court, and only this court, with this judge and their peers for many years. It's not worth winning one case to lose the confidence of the other players
If you all get a committee, get the best lawyer you can find that's available in that judicial district. Get referrals from other lawyers in that area. Go to the Martindale site to look at attorney ratings.

I'm not an employee - I'm a worried business customer and local neighbor on this site to learn what's going on.

Comment! It's anonymous!

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My gosh. First rule of investing: diversify. Don't put all you eggs in one basket. If you do shame on you.

Her arguments if I can quote recent Windstream history is "too cute by half". This bankruptcy judge will give into any command given by either the executives or the wall street creditors. They don't give a d@mn for the common stock holders and feel exactly that if an wage slave... i mean employee still has a job then That should be good enough. It's a free market and you got took. Welcome to capitalism.

Getem

that Windstream Kool-Aid must've been spiked.

"I don't exactly feel bad for this individual. I understand it must s--- losing $600k, but who in their right mind would invest that kind of cash in a failing company ran by criminals? The writing was on the wall years ago."

I used to have WIN stock purchased straight from my pay, back when the stock was great 3 or so years ago. But I also read all the quarterly reports and saw the revenue drying up. No matter how much TT and his Zombies made everything appear to be in great shape - the numbers didn't lie. Unless they had Steve Jobs or some brilliant person in their back pockets, it didn't look good. So I pulled everything out at the beginning of 2017.

If she was 'caught' surprised by the bankruptcy and was 'seduced' by TT's posts on Stream, then I have no sympathy for her. You own a ton of stock in a company, you better watch the quarterly figures like a hawk. And you also see what other financial firms rate the stock. Not by listening to the lies on the Stream posts.

TT and his minions caused the company to go into Chapter 11, but she had a chance she could've pulled her money out before it became worthless.

Maybe next time she will be more careful with her money.

TT is responsible is responsible for the method of acquiring EarthLink. As an all stock transaction, he diluted the value of all existing shareholders.

Thank you TT

Like they say. If you have been at the poker tAble for 15 minutes and have not figured out who the s---er is; it is you. Should have sold that trash years ago. Tony was designated to fly it into the ground. They just didn't know he was that bad and would do it 4 years ahead of schedule.

Do you think I could have all my shares printed out so I could use the back for taking notes.

"leadership" team, leading the company to bankruptcy. LMAO

Some people believe executives. She probably believed her leadership team would take care of all of this.

Made some good points. I sold out at a 50% loss which I thought was awful but based on current situation I feel great.

She’s correct, company’s have a fiduciary responsibility to manage the 401k, however I’m not sure what the specifics are?

I feel her rage in each sentence.

"Windstream Kool-Aid"

delicious

I don't exactly feel bad for this individual. I understand it must s--- losing $600k, but who in their right mind would invest that kind of cash in a failing company ran by criminals? The writing was on the wall years ago.

She lives in a $600,000 house - 5,600 square feet - on 3 acres. Not bad for a sales "engineer"...

The vast majority of us that install, manage, support, and fix the junk solutions these so call engineers cobble together are all living paycheck to paycheck. No legitimate bonus, raises, pensions, health care, etc.

The ultimate truth is no matter what happens in this bankruptcy, the boots on the ground that make this machine run are treated like dog sh|t. We have been for years. None of us care anymore. We are doing the bare minimum to collect a paycheck. I'll start caring when this company decides it's not okay to lay off thousands while watching the employees still left become 3+% poorer every year while they scheme by multi-year, multi-million dollar extensions a business day before they file for chapter 11.

TLDR: I'll see TT and the rest of his cronies in hell. I hope he gets to spend some time alive in prison before I meet him there.

@Y2xW0Ir-muz, tactically, it may not be a good idea to clutter the docket with improperly written, homemade, layman petitions.

Quality > quantity

Before everyone else files a petition, I suggest contacting the filer of this petition. Or using a lawyer to draft yours.

There will be more employees doing this as many like her lost a ton of money.

One other point -- the filer points to the net operating losses (NOLs) that Windstream has on its books. That's a key point.

Those are very valuable from a tax standpoint. They were a big factor in the bankruptcy I worked with. They may or may not come through the bankruptcy intact, depending on how the company is restructured. This can turn on legal technicalities in the bankruptcy process. They are very hard to sell or pass along to another entity besides Windstream. In this case, the tax benefits are potentially worth billions of dollars.

Keep an eye on these and rest assured that all the other players in this process are.

You all owe that fellow employee in SC more than a beer.

Thread regarding Windstream Corp. layoffs

Employee shareholder files petition with the bankruptcy court - worth reading

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