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eToys.com is a retail website that sells toys via the
Internet. Emarketer was once quoted as saying; "Put simply, eToys is the
benchmark against which all other toy sites are measured." Like so many
other "Dot-com" companies, the company that owned the eToys site filed for
chapter 11 protection toward the end of the Internet bubble on March 7,
2001.
Unlike many CEOs of the time, when eToys finally did expire, CEO Toby Lenk
went down with it still holding 10 million shares. Lenk also prevailed upon
his senior team to follow his example of not selling their shares, hoping to
save eToys by signaling confidence to Wall Street.
Nearly all the eToys assets were acquired by KB Toys in two separate
bankruptcy auctions, then later sold to D.E. Shaw, a New York based hedge
fund. Just prior to its final sale, lawyers on behalf of eToys filed a
lawsuit in New York Supreme Court against Goldman Sachs for multiple
securities violations. The suit, still pending a decision, is estimated at
being worth up to $800 million. Coupled with that, a shareholders group
began privately investigating suspected wrongdoings by certain individuals
and law firms overseeing the bankruptcy case. This group continues to pursue
the matter in Federal Court.
The Wall Street Journal printed an article on the issues of the shareholders
and a Court approved consultant, Collateral Logistics Inc (CLI) owned by
Steven Haas (a/k/a Laser Haas). It can be found at the "Where's Justice for
All" website on "Fraud eToys".
The allegations by the shareholders and Laser Haas are that the U S Trustee
forewarned the parties against violating Section 327(a). Not only was this
section violated by the counsels for the debtor and counsel for the
creditors "collaboratively", the violation was done in secret by a
"clandestine" hiring letter that contained an improper clause that rewarded
"post-petition" "wind-down coordinator", that is the admitted paid associate
of the counsel for the creditors. The clause, clause (i), stated that if the
"wind-down coordinator" choose not to apply to the court, he would then be
rewarded as CEO and President of the bankrupt debtors.
The US Trustee made a motion to disgorge the firm of Traub Bonacquist n Fox
for $1.6 million on February 15, 2005. The Disgorge Motion, which is Court
docket item 2195 of the Delaware Bankruptcy case eToys 01-706, testified
that the parties were forewarned, that the acts were deliberate, rather than
inadvertent, that Traub firm was vastly experienced in bankruptcy matters,
that affirmative misrepresentations of no conflict of interest had occurred,
while Traub and the Wind down coordinator had conflicting loyalties, that
the lines between Creditor v Debtor had been made void, that the issue was
materially adverse, and that Fraud upon the Court had occurred.
The District Court appeals were all heard by Judge Kent Jordan who is now
promoted to the 3rd Circuit (cases 05-829, 05-728, 05-830 and 05-831). Kent
Jordan's former firm, Morris James represented CLI/Haas in the eToys matter.
The shareholders and Haas had complained to the Director in Washington DC of
the EOUST, as well as the Asst US Trustee, who emailed the Disgorge Motion
to everyone, while also making it known to President Bush's Corporate Fraud
Task Force and the SEC Bankruptcy Fraud Division in Atlanta GA. The Director
of the EOUST, the Asst US Trustee and the Director of the Corp Fraud Task
Force have all subsequently resigned.
Recently the appeal of Haas in the 3rd Circuit of 06-4308 had rejected an En
Banc rehearing request and the Supreme Court remains the alternative. The
shareholders still have a 3rd Circuit appeal that currently has a briefing
scheduled to occur.
In 1999, the company was involved in a high-profile dispute with Swiss art
site etoy. EToys attempted to seize the etoy.com domain from etoy on the
grounds that it was confusingly similar to its own domain, but it relented
after widespread Internet outrage. That season's Christmas-season television
ad campaign featured Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's rendition of "(Somewhere) Over
the Rainbow".
The eToys.com website was eventually reopened by eToys Direct Inc., a
descendant of Internet startup and KB Toys partner Brainplay.com. It
continues to market toys by mail order under the eToys name through both the
website and printed catalogs.

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