Brown & Joseph Bankruptcy Unit Notches $30 Million in Preference Transfers

Accounts receivable management firm Brown & Joseph Co. recently celebrated the one-year anniversary of its Bankruptcy Services group, working with several Bankruptcy Trustees to assist debtor companies in the collection of preference default judgments and the recovery of account receivables.

In its first 12 months, the bankruptcy services group took on two major preference cases on behalf of Chapter 7 Trustees, and the debtor estates. Each of the cases involved nationally recognized companies with a combined total of over 2,000 preference defendants for an estimated $30 million in preference transfers.

A preference payment covers those payments made to any vendor in the 90 days leading up to a firm’s bankruptcy filing date. Federal statute gives these firms preference in bankruptcy proceedings.

Brown & Joseph provided these services to the debtor estates strictly on a contingency fee basis.

Steven Gelsosomo, vice president of bankruptcy sales, joined the firm 18 months ago to start the firm’s bankruptcy group. He said the division now has about a dozen staff.

“We are retained on behalf of the debtor estates to assist trustees in the pursuit of preference actions,” said Gelsosomo. “We’re small but effective.”

In addition to the bankruptcy services group, Schaumberg, Ill.-based Brown & Joseph offers receivables management, risk management, receivables software, litigation, portfolio acquisition and other services. It also owns the 9ci software group collection management software.