WILMINGTON, Del.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Insert fourth paragraph of release dated September 16, 2021: Continued Chris Coffey, “As we’ve seen time and again, Delaware’s top judges and corporate elites too often work together to enrich themselves at the expense of hard-working employees. In the TransPerfect case alone, Chancery Court-appointed Custodian Robert Pincus, his advisors, and his attorney, Skadden partner Jennifer Voss, have billed TransPerfect upwards of $50 million, threatening the livelihoods of the company’s more than 7,000 employees. Now, Pincus is once again using the status bequeathed on him by the Delaware courts to blow past a $2 million fee cap in his role as ‘Special Master’ of the Citgo sale. Sadly, the fiction of the latest episode of Billions is clearly inspired by the reality of corporate and judicial misbehavior in Delaware.”
The updated release reads:
HIT SHOWTIME SERIES BILLIONS, INSPIRED BY CHANCERY COURT IMPROPRIETY, EXPOSES DEPTHS OF DYSFUNCTION AND CORRUPTION IN DELAWARE
Today, judicial watchdog and advocacy group Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware is lauding the hit Showtime series Billions for its most recent episode, “Implosion,” which highlighted the corruption and backroom deals plaguing the First State’s government and judicial system.
Said CPBD Campaign Manager, Chris Coffey, “Corruption at the highest levels of Delaware’s government and legal system is so rampant and well-known that it has surpassed parody and become a plotline in a TV series known for its stark portrayals of abuse of power in elite society. We thank the producers of Billions for heeding our calls and plumbing the depths of Delaware’s dysfunction in a way that’s accessible to millions of viewers.”
The episode aired amidst a wave of heightened scrutiny of the First State for the lack of transparency, diversity, and accountability in its state government and judiciary.
Continued Chris Coffey, “As we’ve seen time and again, Delaware’s top judges and corporate elites too often work together to enrich themselves at the expense of hard-working employees. In the TransPerfect case alone, Chancery Court-appointed Custodian Robert Pincus, his advisors, and his attorney, Skadden partner Jennifer Voss, have billed TransPerfect upwards of $50 million, threatening the livelihoods of the company’s more than 7,000 employees. Now, Pincus is once again using the status bequeathed on him by the Delaware courts to blow past a $2 million fee cap in his role as ‘Special Master’ of the Citgo sale. Sadly, the fiction of the latest episode of Billions is clearly inspired by the reality of corporate and judicial misbehavior in Delaware.”
Now in its fifth season, Billions is a drama television series created by Brian Koppelman, David Levien, and Andrew Ross Sorkin. The show’s story is centered around two competing characters and how they obtain and abuse power in an unending game of brinkmanship to come out on top. Billions pits Bobby Axelrod, a hedge fund manager who accumulates wealth and power in the world of high finance using aggressive and illegal tactics, against now-New York State Attorney General Chuck Rhoades.
According to the New York Times review of the latest episode of Billions, “Implosion,” which aired on Sunday, September 12th, 2021, seeking a favor to hurt Axelrod,
“Rhoades reaches out to Drew Moody (an impressively sinister Michael Cerveris), attorney general for the tax-haven state of Delaware. “Moody blows him off. ‘I don’t believe corporations are people,’ he purrs. ‘They’re better than people, because they don’t [expletive] up when they get so obsessed with one thing they can’t see reality.’”
Said Chris Coffey, “What happened next was a textbook example of Delaware corruption and how the legal system is driven by money and backroom deals: Mike Prince, a billionaire rival to Axelrod with billions invested in corporations in the First State, visits the Delaware Attorney General and threatens to move his companies elsewhere, leaving the AG to explain where thousands of jobs went. AG Moody quickly acquiesces to Prince’s demands and offers to appoint a hostile trustee to the board of Axelrod’s bank who will be able to do damage from the inside.
“Unfortunately, with elite attorneys hand-picked by the state’s courts to oversee the sales of massive corporations can charge those companies millions of dollars without explaining why and engage in endless litigation to line their own pockets - all rubber-stamped by the very judges who appointed them - it’s no surprise that Billions writers would find Delaware ripe for a plotline about greed and corruption.
“When real-life figures like former Chancery Court Chancellor Andre Bouchard continuously side with their friends and former colleagues in elite law firms at the expense of the people, and use notorious encrypted email service ProtonMail to conduct their business, it’s clear why Delaware’s unsavory reputation for corruption and favor trading continues to live on.”
