United States Securities and Exchange Commission v. Qin
- Clarke
- 1:20-cv-10849
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In United States Securities and Exchange Commission v. Qin, Judge Clarke approved the receiver’s fee application and authorized the requested payments.
The court’s order affects the receiver, BakerHostetler, Ankura Consulting Group, LLC, and Miller Kaplan Arase, LLP by authorizing payment of the requested fees and expenses from the receivership.
What happened
In United States Securities and Exchange Commission v. Qin, the court had appointed Robert A. Musiala, Jr. as receiver in the case. The receiver later submitted an application seeking payment for work and expenses from July 1 through September 30, 2024.
The application requested $179,755.60 for BakerHostetler, $107,393.25 for Ankura Consulting Group, and $11,221.20 for Miller Kaplan Arase. The work included efforts to recover receivership property, analyze financial information, evaluate claims, consider possible litigation, and respond to claimant questions.
Judge Clarke granted the fee application and authorized the receiver to make all requested payments. The court considered the work’s complexity and benefit to the receivership, the billing records, the discounted hourly rates, and the Securities and Exchange Commission’s approval of the application.
The detailed version
- United States Securities and Exchange Commission v. Qin · No. 1:20-cv-10849
- Clarke
- Apr. 15, 2025
Background
On January 21, 2021, the court appointed Robert A. Musiala, Jr. of BakerHostetler as the receiver in this action. A receiver is a person appointed by a court to manage property or affairs involved in a case. On December 30, 2024, the receiver submitted the Fifteenth Fee Application for work and expenses incurred during the period from July 1 through September 30, 2024.
Requested Payments and Review
The application sought approval of payments of $179,755.60 to BakerHostetler, $107,393.25 to Ankura Consulting Group, LLC, and $11,221.20 to Miller Kaplan Arase, LLP. Together, these entities were identified as the Receiver Team. The receiver and the Receiver Team submitted invoices describing their work.
The opinion states that the Receiver Team worked on matters including discussions with third parties about returning and recovering receivership property; reviewing documents and information concerning that property; analyzing financial data and preparing current statements of receivership assets and net recoveries; evaluating possible litigation strategies; reviewing claims submitted through a claims portal; considering whether claims could be offset by amounts owed to the receivership estate; updating frequently asked questions on the receivership website; and responding to claimant inquiries.
The Securities and Exchange Commission reviewed and approved the fee application and invoices. The court noted that the hourly rates remained substantially discounted from the ordinary rates of the receiver and Ankura. For the application period, the opinion identifies a combined discount and fee write-off of $241,955 for the receiver and $50,953 for Ankura.
Court’s Ruling
The court explained that a receiver who reasonably and diligently performs the assigned duties is entitled to fair compensation. It evaluated the reasonableness of the requested compensation by considering factors including the complexity of the problems, the benefits to the receivership estate, the quality of the work, and the time records. The court also gave substantial weight to the Commission’s approval.
Judge Jessica G. L. Clarke granted the Fifteenth Fee Application and authorized the receiver to make the payments requested in the application.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.