Continuing Ogre-oid: Trans-Ocean to Hide Money

The Associated Press reports:

After the chief executive of Transocean Ltd., owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig, held a closed-door meeting with shareholders Friday, the company issued a terse statement after the Zurich stock market closed saying it would distribute some $1 billion in dividend to shareholders. News of the dividends, which amount to about $3.11 per share, came just days after company chief executive Steven Newman appeared before Congress to explain his company’s involvement in the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

When a company facing claims that exceed its assets makes distributions out to its shareholders, this may be attacked as a preference or a fraudulent conveyance under debtor-creditor law in many jurisdictions. But moving the money down the line to shareholders makes it much more unlikely that much of it will ever be recovered by the parties suffering from the leaks in the Gulf of Mexico—like fishermen, owners of coastal resorts, and the United States, which is now preparing to assume control of the efforts to stem the leak and launch a clean-up following the demonstrated inability of British Petroleum, Halliburton, and Transocean to do so. via