Bargain Hunters Snap Up Dreier Firm Furniture at Bankruptcy Auction
The Park Avenue offices of the once opulent Dreier law firm were filled yesterday with bargain hunters.
The people were there hoping to snag the firm’s office furnishings and technology equipment at low prices in a bankruptcy auction, the Am Law Daily reports. The firm imploded after its leader, Marc Dreier, was charged with selling $700 million in phony securities to investors.
A Herman Miller Eames chair sold for just $1,250, a walnut bookcase went for $50, a tan ultra-suede sofa for $275, 13 knoll task chairs for $225 a piece, and a white microwave oven for $25. The New York Law Journal listed the prices and described the scene.
Bidders sat on black and chrome sleigh-arm chairs and on steps of a white spiral staircase as they watched auctioneer Barton Hyte lead the bidding, the New York Law Journal story says. “I feel like I’ve been shot by a bullet,” Hyte joked as he let a five-drawer lateral file go for $100.
After one sale, a former Dreier employee shouted, “They just sold my office for a hundred bucks.”
Hyte didn’t reveal how much the auction netted. The bigger question, according to the Am Law Daily, is whether the proceeds will go to burned investors in the criminal case or unsecured creditors in the bankruptcy auction.
A joint hearing between judges in the criminal and bankruptcy cases has been scheduled for April 6 to sort out the issues common to both proceedings. But acting U.S. Attorney Lev Dassin may have answered the proceeds question in a letter Wednesday to the bankruptcy judge. He indicated the feds won’t be seeking forfeiture of funds from the auctioned property.
