(Or should that be The World vs. Irving Gould?)

Like the title? Unfortunately, no, this isn't the heading for a brand new and exciting edutainment mini-series about the foibles of a megalomaniacal CEO with offshore accounts in the Bahamas (though permission is hereby granted for any would-be documentary maker to use this title, if proper credit is given; we'll work out royalties etc. at a later date).

No, instead the reason I am posting this message is because you probably, like me, thought that the long drawn-out litigations and legal proceedings  connected to Commodore's bankruptcy would've been long over, either in 1994 or shortly thereafter.

Well you were wrong, and so was I.  See, I've been doing a lot of digging lately, and I was very surprised to discover,  that there were cases pending LONG afterwards, and in fact there are STILL cases ongoing TO THIS VERY DAY in which Irving Gould (or more precisely, his Estate) is listed as a defendant - even though he was struck down from this Earth sometime in 2001.  Medhi Ali (who sadly hasn't yet been struck down) is also listed as a defendant alongside him, along with many of their buddies, in these same cases.

Isn't it a nice feeling to know that the unbound incompetence, greed and corruption of these two rather remarkable men, also led to their being pursued, hunted, chased and haunted by the courts to their very graves - and in some cases, beyond them?

Well, below are a few links to these cases for your 'enjoyment'.  If you can call trawling through legalistic papers enjoyable.  In any case, I thought we could all get some popcorn, take a look, and share our findings and thoughts on these cases, and highlight the juicy parts, and so on...

Seriously, I know I for one didn't know about these cases at all, despite being a long-time lurker in good standing at many Amiga forums.  And just as the trivia surrounding the bankruptcy itself was of interest to many of us, the details of the litigations which were pursued afterwards against Gould et al in an attempt to get some kind of justice, is interesting too.

So without further ado, here are a few links for you all to get stuck into! Enjoy!

Federal Insurance Company vs. The Estate of Irving Gould et. al.
Defendants: Mehdi Ali, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., The Estate of Ralph Seligman,
Burton Winberg, J. Edward Goff and The Estate of Irving Gould.
http://www.oakbridgeins.com/clients/blog/commodore.pdf
http://dockets.justia.com/docket/circuit-courts/ca2/11-5000/

Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of Commodore International vs. Irving Gould et al.
Defendants: Irving Gould, Mehdi R. Ali, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., Ralph D. Seligman, Burton Winberg, J. Edward Goff, Hock E. Tan, Ronald B. Alexander and Anthony D. Ricci
http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F3/262/96/607836/
http://174.123.24.242/leagle/xmlResult.aspx?xmldoc=1999406231BR175_1376.xml&docbase=CSLWAR2-1986-2006
http://174.123.24.242/leagle/xmlResult.aspx?xmldoc=2001358262F3d96_1350.xml&docbase=CSLWAR2-1986-2006

Hello All.

I thought Irving Gould died in 2001?

Thanks in advance,
Merv Stent

Hello All.

I thought Irving Gould died in 2001?

Thanks in advance,
Merv Stent

That's right, he did.  The plaintiffs in these cases are suing his Estate.  It's possible a lot of his money is tied up in various court cases, or else those who got a nice big inheritance thanks to his ill-gotten gains are being sued for some of that money back.  

A lot of the people who are being sued (Medhi Ali et. al.) are still alive, and presumably still have some of that money laying around somewhere.  Of course, it does make you wonder if it's all locked away in unreachable numbered Swiss bank accounts by now and if so, whether the courts are able to get at it...

Edit: CritAnime beat me to it, but I'll leave this reply here anyway

I haven't read the full document yet, but from my limited understanding of corporate law, I don't get how they can be sued personally for debts owed by a corporation that used to employ them, where no crime is alleged.

By the way, Alexander Haig has also ceased to be. What this guy was doing on Commodore's board, I will never know.

In the 80s and even very early 90s C= was still a helluva company.  Woz may moan and groan about the C64 but the flat fact of the matter is 22 million units was vastly more than the line of Apple IIs moved, certainly more than the IBM 5150s brought home by employees, and absolutely tons more than the Atari and other also-rans combined.  While I don't think the departed general had any interest in it beyond investing and then winding up in charge of part of the company, it made good dollar sense at the time.

It's amazing to think that as late as (IIRC) 1990 C= was still trading in the lower mid 20's.  That'd be like trading in the lower mid 90's-100's today.

What's more amazing* is that by 1993 they were essentially dead.  I think the last time I looked at their stock it was trading at $3, and got a $.10 bump when rumors surfaced that Sony might be looking to buy.


*=depressing.

Hey, looks like the address given for the Stone Ridge Partners is a house: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=111+Hemlock+Hill+Road,+New+Canaan,+CT+06840&hl=en&ll=41.163552,-73.515013&spn=0.000924,0.001629&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=62.484575,106.787109&vpsrc=6&hnear=111+Hemlock+Hill+Rd,+New+Canaan,+Connecticut+06840&t=h&z=20

I like how they moved the shareholders meetings to the Bahamas to basically **** the people who could have saved the company (from a monetary standpoint) right in the ass.

http://stoneridgepartners.biz/principals.htm

I've mentioned this before...it seems Mehdi is in two places at once...

http://meridianassociates.biz/professional.htm

.biz domain names always come out sounding tacky IMHO.