Paul R. Traub (born January 31, 1952) is an American attorney who specializes in business law, specifically

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

insolvency In accounting, insolvency is the state of being unable to pay the debts, by a person or company ( debtor), at maturity; those in a state of insolvency are said to be ''insolvent''. There are two forms: cash-flow insolvency and balance-sheet i ...

, and trial

litigation A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. ...

. He has participated in several large retail bankruptcies, including

Kmart Kmart ( ), formerly legally registered as Kmart Corporation, now operated by Transformco, is a department-store chain and online retailer in the United States and Territories of the United States, its territories. It operates four remaining Kma ...

FAO Schwarz FAO Schwarz is an American toy brand and Toy store, retail chain. The company is known for its high-end toys, life-sized stuffed animals, Interactivity, interactive experiences, Product placement, brand integrations, and games. FAO Schwarz clai ...

KB Toys K·B Toys (also known as Kay Bee Toys) was an American chain of mall-based retail toy stores. The company was founded in 1922 as Kaufman Brothers, a wholesale candy store. The company opened a wholesale toy store in 1946, and ended its candy wh ...

Stage Stores Stage Stores was a department store company specializing in retailing off-price brand name apparel, accessories, cosmetics, footwear, and housewares throughout the United States. Stores were usually located in shopping malls and centers or in st ...

Office Max OfficeMax is an American office supplies retailer founded in 1988. As an independent chain, it was the third-largest office supply retailer in the United States. Following a 2013 merger, it is currently a brand and subsidiary of Office Depot. ...

, and

eToys.com eToys.com was a retail website that sold toys via the Internet. It was established by a startup company of the same name on November 3, 1997. After an initial public offering on January 4, 1999, the company quickly shot up in value, becoming emb ...

. Other clients have included Halston, Joan & David, Levitz, Bombay Company, Linens 'n Things, Zales, and Whitehall Jewelers.

Early life and education

Traub was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York. Traub earned his

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree from the

University at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo (commonly referred to as UB, University at Buffalo, and sometimes SUNY Buffalo) is a public university, public research university in Buffalo, New York, Buffalo and Amherst, New York, United States. ...

in 1973, followed by a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

from the

Golden Gate University School of Law Golden Gate University School of Law (informally referred to as GGU School of Law, GGU Law and Golden Gate Law) is the law school of Golden Gate University. Located in downtown San Francisco, California, Golden Gate Law is part of a California ...

in 1977. He was admitted to the New York Bar Association in 1978.

Career

He is admitted to practice law before the

U.S. District Court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

Southern, Eastern and Western Districts of New York, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, and Eastern District of Wisconsin. Traub is the founding member and managing partner, of Traub, Bonacquist, and Fox, a New York-based boutique law firm specializing in bankruptcy and business reorganization matters. In September, 2006,

Marc Dreier Marc Stuart Dreier (born May 12, 1950) is an American former lawyer who was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison in 2009 for committing investment fraud using a Ponzi scheme. He was scheduled to be released from FCI Sandstone on June 30, 202 ...

, sole equity partner of Dreier, LLP, acquired the boutique law firm. Paul Traub became a Dreier partner and co-chair with Norman Kinel of the Bankruptcy and Business Reorganization group. Following Dreiers 2008 arrest for an alleged $700 million promissory-note fraud, Traub and the rest of the bankruptcy team resigned and re-stablished Traub, Bonacquist & Fox. In February, 2009, Epstein, Becker & Green, a firm specializing in government contracts, brought the seven-member Traub/Dreier bankruptcy team into their New York office. Traub represented the creditors in

bankruptcy. The dotcom company filed for

chapter 11 Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...

protection toward the end of the

Internet bubble The dot-com bubble (or dot-com boom) was a stock market bubble that ballooned during the late-1990s and peaked on Friday, March 10, 2000. This period of market growth coincided with the widespread adoption of the World Wide Web and the Intern ...

on March 7, 2001. The Office for

United States Trustee The United States Trustee Program is a component of the United States Department of Justice that is responsible for overseeing the administration of bankruptcy cases and private trustees. The applicable federal law is found at and , et seq. I ...

accused him and his New York law firm of a

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple wikt:interest#Noun, interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates t ...

non-disclosure A non-disclosure agreement (NDA), also known as a confidentiality agreement (CA), confidential disclosure agreement (CDA), proprietary information agreement (PIA), or secrecy agreement (SA), is a law, legal contract or part of a contract between ...

, and employing non " arms length" key personnel, because of his business partnership with Barry Gold. In April, 2001, Traub founded Asset Disposition Advisors, LLC ( "ADA"), a Delaware liquidation company, with Gold, located at his

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

law office.Alt URL
/ref> Traub also appointed Gold CEO of

one month after forming ADA, while Gold had been receiving paychecks from Traub's lawfirm. The Court ruled in favor of Traub: Gold's participation in ADA with Traub was not sufficient to establish a conflict of interest, although the judge said failure to disclose such relationships in future could lead to sanctions. "In the future ... the failure of an officer of a debtor to disclose such relationships will subject that officer to review and possible

disgorgement Disgorgement is the act of giving up something on demand or by legal compulsion, for example giving up profits that were obtained illegally. In United States regulatory law, disgorgement is often a civil remedy imposed by some regulatory agenci ...

of compensation, if the court concludes that the relationship constitutes an actual conflict of interest."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Traub, Paul R. American legal writers Lawyers from Brooklyn 1952 births Living people People from Massapequa, New York Golden Gate University School of Law alumni University at Buffalo alumni