The deal wasn't shaky. It was an auction where there were only two potential buyers who actually rocked up. It wasn't secret, it was public. It was issued by a court, including a process where bidders had to submit offers before a deadline. [0]
ThreeSixty Asset Advisors ran the process. As they often do. Tranzon Asset Advisors assisted, as they often do. There were confidentiality agreements and sealed bids... But that's the normal process for selling off assets through a court.
A sealed bid is designed to avoid negotiation, and other processes more easily manipulated by bias, unconscious or otherwise. The bids are unseen between the buyers, and opened at the same time.
There were a "large number" of interested parties before the deadline. However, most pulled out and did not submit a bid before the deadline. Leaving only two.
Some potential bidders, like The Barbed Wire, stated that they pulled out because they simply couldn't afford the expected sale price.
All of this was the exact same procedure for other forfeiture assets.
The Judge did not find any wrong doing by the buyers, but rather lamented that the final sale price was too low. That's it. Not a procedural stuff up. That was followed correctly.
> "I don't like second-guessing trustees," the judge said, but that is exactly what he did.
> "It's clear that [U.S. bankruptcy trustee Christopher Murray] left a lot of money on the table," Lopez said, adding that he thought the process was "doomed" the moment Murray decided to cancel a live auction and call for sealed "best and final" offers instead.
