5th Circuit Backs Golf Channel, Rejects Ponzi Clawback
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a U.S. District Court decision that The Golf Channel (TGC) needn't pay back $5.9 million it received in advertising fees from what turned out to be a financial fraud. In an opinion…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
Monday, the 5th Circuit said that based on the Texas Supreme Court's read of what "value" means under the Texas Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act, it's upholding a 2013 decision by a federal judge in Dallas to toss out a lawsuit brought by Ralph Janvey, the court-appointed receiver of Stanford International Bank -- a decision the 5th Circuit initially overturned in 2015 and then reversed as it sought clarification from the Texas Supreme court (see 1507010036). In that clarification issued earlier this year, the court said the law's broad definitions mean the programmer provided value to Stafford at the time of the transaction, supporting TGC's good-faith affirmative defense (see 1604040045). Janvey sued the channel in 2011, trying to claw back the money spent by Stanford, a title sponsor of a PGA Tour event and the focal point of what the 5th Circuit called an "undisputed ... multi-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme."