The Detroit News is reporting that Kevyn Orr will give testimony today in a deposition for the City of Detroit’s Chapter 9 bankruptcy filing.
Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr is giving a deposition Friday morning before attorneys representing a New York-based insurer of Detroit’s pension bond debt and others tied to the city’s historic Chapter 9 bankruptcy filing.
Orr arrived at the deposition at 8:30 a.m. at the Westin Book Cadillac hotel. The deposition is closed to the media but will be videotaped for use in court proceedings. Lawyers representing Detroit’s two retirement systems and the Retired Detroit Police Members Association are also expected to depose Orr on Friday.
A state trooper, who is assigned to Orr’s security detail, stood outside the deposition in the hallway. Orr briefly stepped out of the conference room after roughly 30 minutes, flanked by two state troopers.
On his way back in, Orr told The Detroit News that he expected Friday to be a “long day.” On a second break, he gave a thumbs-up when asked how things were progressing.
Syncora Guarantee, the New York-based insurer of Detroit’s pension bond debt, will likely question Orr over his plan to pay UBS and Bank of America as little as 75 cents on the dollar to settle more than $340 million in debt from a 2009 swaps arrangement.
Under the proposed settlement, which the court has not approved, UBS and Bank of America could get about $4 million monthly. The court also has not decided whether the city is eligible for bankruptcy.
Syncora insured the swaps and could be forced to absorb the losses the two big banks have agreed to take.
Meanwhile, Orr’s efforts to leverage wagering taxes collected from Detroit’s three casinos got a boost Wednesday when U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes blocked Syncora Guarantee of the swaps agreement from capturing the casino revenue.
The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130830/METRO01/308300061#ixzz2dTGxZvqC
