Solomon Genet

Practice Areas

Commercial Litigation, Bankruptcy and Restructuring, Financial Fraud, Receiverships and Assignments, and Creditor’s Rights

Career

Solomon B. Genet, a partner with Meland Budwick, P.A. and general counsel for the firm, focuses his practice on commercial litigation, corporate insolvency and bankruptcy, and financial fraud matters.

Professional Memberships

• Board of Directors member, Lehrman Community Day School

• Mentor, Kozyak Minority Mentoring Foundation

• Former Board member, Bass Art Museum

• Former Vice Chair of the Miami Beach Cultural Arts Council

• Founding member of the Miami-Dade County Mortgage Fraud Task Force

• Former Member, Bankruptcy Court Local Rules Committee

• Former Chair, Greater Miami Jewish Federation Real Estate Speaker Series

Publications

“Your Contingency Fee May Be at Risk if Your Client Files for Bankruptcy,” Daily Business Review, October 18, 2017.

“HOAs in Florida: Issues and Analysis for the Real Estate Developer.” ActionLine, the Florida Bar Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section publication (ActionLine), Summer 2008.

“Heter Iska; Does it Make a Loan not a Loan? An Introduction for Lenders and Borrowers,” ActionLine, Summer 2007.

“Closing Protection Letters in Florida: A Title Underwriter’s Liability to the Commercial Lender,” ActionLine, Winter 2006.

“The Bankruptcy/Divorce Conflict: How Courts Have Used Constructive Trusts to Remedy An Inequitable Situation,” Annual Survey of Bankruptcy Law, 2001-02 Ed.

“2nd Circuit Review,” Norton Bankruptcy Advisor, March 2000.

Work Highlights

• Serves as the Trustee’s special litigation counsel in connection with the largest Ponzi scheme in the E.D. of California (losses exceed $900 million). The firm is responsible for investigating and bringing all estate tort and avoidance claims. To date, we brought and consensually resolved claims against, among others, financial institutions (for $11.625 million & 9 million), financial professionals (for $11.25 million & $3.2 million) and clawback targets (including a 100% $19.5 million recovery from the IRS for income tax payments made on behalf of wrongdoers and $5.75 million from NASCAR). In addition, we are prosecuting a nine-figure claim against Nixon Peabody, LLP, DC Solar’s primary outside counsel, for its joinder in the fraud and malpractice as well as multiple clawback actions each seeking eight-figures in damages.

• Represents the bankruptcy trustee for Palm Beach Finance, a $650 million victim in the Petters Ponzi scheme, the third largest Ponzi scheme in U.S. history. In April 2019, we resolved the Trustee’s tort claim against GE Capital for $49 million, one of the largest recoveries against a financial institution for its alleged joinder in a Ponzi scheme. Altogether, the firm recovered over $220 million on behalf of victims.

• Serves as litigation oversight counsel to Doug Kelley, the bankruptcy trustee for Petters Company, Inc., pending in Minneapolis which perpetrated the third largest Ponzi scheme in U.S. history, with $2 billion in cash-on-cash losses. Our firm has worked with the case manager and PCI Trust to manage multiple law firms pursuing dozens of litigations seeking to avoid an aggregate of hundreds of millions of dollars in litigation claims. We managed the successful mediation of a $200 million defendant/profiteer claim. The firm also prosecuted an 8-figure proof of claim in the related Polaroid bankruptcy case and served as co-counsel in an action against JPMorgan obtaining a $30.7 million recovery.

• Serves as class counsel to 3,400 investor victims in a $322 million fraud perpetrated by the principals of 1 Global, a merchant cash advance company. The firm prosecuted an adversary against accounting and legal professionals, fundraisers, and the principal, obtaining class certification and leading to various recoveries.

Industry Sector Expertise

High stakes litigation, especially in the insolvency and fraud contexts.

Expert in these Jurisdictions

State and federal courts, including Bankruptcy courts and other courts overseeing insolvency proceedings.

Languages Spoken

Hebrew (Conversational-ish)

Experience

Sol represents individuals and corporate clients in complex commercial and business disputes.. He specializes in representing parties in insolvency proceedings, including debtors and alleged debtors, creditors, creditors’ committees, equity holders, and trustees / receivers / financial fiduciaries in state and federal insolvency proceedings, often stemming from large frauds and Ponzi schemes.

Education