The lawsuits all alleged, as a factual basis and background, certain facts surrounding the June 2007 leveraged buyout of ESI from affiliates of Blackstone Capital. Our subsidiary, Arbor ESH II, LLC, had a $115.0 million investment in the Series A1 Preferred Units of a holding company of Extended Stay, Inc. The New York State Court action and one of the two federal court actions named as defendants Arbor ESH II, LLC, Arbor Commercial Mortgage, LLC (“ACM”), and ABT-ESI LLC, an entity in which we have a membership interest, among the broad group of defendants. These two actions were commenced by substantially identical complaints. The defendants are alleged, among other things, to have breached fiduciary and contractual duties by causing or allowing the Debtors to pay illegal dividends or other improper distributions of value at a time when the Debtors were insolvent. The Trust also alleges that the defendants aided and abetted, induced, or participated in breaches of fiduciary duty, waste, and unjust enrichment (“Fiduciary Duty Claims”) and name a director of ours, and a former general counsel of ACM, each of whom had served on the Board of Directors of ESI for a period of time. We are defending these two defendants and paying the costs of such defense. On the basis of the foregoing allegations, the Trust has asserted claims under a number of common law theories, seeking the return of assets transferred by the Debtors prior to the Debtors’ bankruptcy filing.
In the third action, filed in Bankruptcy Court, the same plaintiff, the Trust, named ACM and ABT-ESI LLC, together with a number of other defendants, and asserts claims, including constructive and fraudulent conveyance claims, under state and federal statutes, as well as a claim under the Federal Debt Collection Procedure Act.
In June 2013, the Trust filed a motion to amend the lawsuits, to, among other things, (1) consolidate the lawsuits into one lawsuit, (2) remove 47 defendants from the lawsuits, none of whom are related to us, so that there are 26 remaining defendants, including 16 corporate and partnership entities and 10 individuals, and (3) reduce the counts within the lawsuits from over 100 down to 17.
The remaining counts in the Trust’s amended complaint against our affiliates are principally state law claims for breach of fiduciary duties, waste, unlawful dividends and unjust enrichment, and claims under the Bankruptcy Code for avoidance and recovery actions, among others. The Bankruptcy Court granted the motion to amend and the amended complaint has been filed. The amended complaint seeks approximately $139.0 million in the aggregate, plus interest from the date of the alleged unlawful transfers, from director designees, portions of which are also sought from our affiliates as well as from unaffiliated defendants.
We moved to dismiss the referenced remaining actions in December 2013.
After supplemental briefing and multiple adjourned conferences, in August 2020, the Court issued a decision granting our motion to dismiss in part, dismissing 9 of the 17 counts. The Court permitted claims against director designees to proceed on theories of authorization of illegal dividends and breach of fiduciary duty. The Court permitted claims against the defendant entities, including our affiliated entities, to proceed on theories of constructive fraudulent transfer and fraudulent transfer under state and federal law. Moreover, the Court affirmatively dismissed four counts against the defendant entities to the extent they are based on distributions from certain so-called LIBOR Floor Certificates. According to the amended complaint, the total LIBOR Floor Certificate transfers were $74.0 million in value. As a result, with what remains of the amended complaint, total possible liability against the affiliated entities has correspondingly fallen, whereas total possible liability against the director designees remains at approximately $139.0 million.
The parties have stipulated to a schedule for discovery and we intend to vigorously defend against the remaining claims. We have not made a loss accrual for this litigation because we believe that it is not probable that a loss has been incurred and an amount cannot be reasonably estimated.
Due to Borrowers. Due to borrowers represents borrowers’ funds held by us to fund certain expenditures or to be released at our discretion upon the occurrence of certain pre-specified events, and to serve as additional collateral for borrowers’ loans. While retained, these balances earn interest in accordance with the specific loan terms they are associated with.
Note 14 — Variable Interest Entities
Our involvement with VIEs primarily affects our financial performance and cash flows through amounts recorded in interest income, interest expense, provision for loan losses and through activity associated with our derivative instruments.