WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware launched a mobile billboard truck campaign to expose the well-documented record of excessive and opaque billing from former Chancery Court-appointed TransPerfect Custodian and current “Special Master” of the Citgo sale, Skadden Arps’ Robert Pincus. The truck will park outside of the American University Washington College of Law Campus, where Pincus serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor and, ironically, teaches a class on “Deals.”
The billboard highlights Pincus’ malfeasance in multiple cases where he has abused his court- appointed powers to enrich himself at the expense of the companies involved in litigation. In the TransPerfect case, an independent legal billing expert found large numbers of generally objectionable billing practices’ from TransPerfect Custodian Robert Pincus and urged across- the-board fee reductions, only to be largely ignored by the Chancery Court, costing the company upwards of $50 million in total legal fees throughout the case.
In his next Custodianship, the sale of Citgo, Pincus rapidly exceeded a court-mandated $2 million fee cap, prompting complaints about unjustified overbilling from the parties involved. Oddly, for his choice of attorney in his new matter, Pincus has hired Potter Anderson, the same law firm that accused him of ethical misconduct and abdicating his duties in the TransPerfect case.
The mobile billboard truck comes in the wake of a recent filing from TransPerfect’s lawyers in the Chancery Court seeking sanctions for Pincus’ bad faith conduct as Custodian of the TransPerfect sale, and the long-overdue termination and distribution of the $4 million-plus escrow account back to its rightful owners.
Said Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware Campaign Manager Chris Coffey, “It’s shameful that Robert Pincus continues to be enabled to bilk profitable companies by the Delaware courts to the tune of tens of millions of dollars. Instead of his class on 'Deals' at the American University Washington College of Law, Professor Pincus should teach a class on the backroom deals that allow elite corporate lawyers and judges in Delaware to enrich themselves at the expense of hard-working employees across the state and the country – clearly, he’s an expert.
“This billboard truck is a reminder to Pincus and the entire Delaware establishment that we will do whatever it takes to expose the crooked ‘Delaware Way’ both in the state and beyond. Moreover, we won’t rest until there are tangible changes to end the conflicts of interest and self-dealing that define the Delaware legal and judicial system – it’s what the people of Delaware demand and deserve.”
Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware is a group made up of more than 5,000 members including employees of the global translation services company TransPerfect, as well as concerned Delaware residents, business executives and others. They formed in April of 2016 to focus on raising awareness with Delaware residents, elected officials, and other stakeholders about the unprecedented, forced sale of TransPerfect. While their primary goal of saving the company has been accomplished, they continue their efforts to fight for more transparency in the Delaware Chancery Court. For more information on Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware or to join the cause, visit DelawareForBusiness.org.
