A Republican member of the House Judiciary Committee asked a Justice Department unit to detail how it enforces bankruptcy rules, concerned that undisclosed conflicts at McKinsey & Co.’s restructuring unit may be compromising the nation’s bankruptcy system, the Wall Street Journal reported. In a July 11 letter to the director of the U.S. Trustee Program, Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona cited a recent investigation by the Wall Street Journal that found McKinsey disclosed far fewer connections to parties involved in the chapter 11 bankruptcy cases it has worked on than other restructuring firms. In an April, the Journal detailed how McKinsey initially identified 59 connections to participating debtors, creditors, lawyers and accountants in those cases, compared with the more than 15,000 total connections named by 45 other bankruptcy professionals in those matters. On average, McKinsey reported five such relationships per case, compared with the other firms’ disclosures of 171 connections each. The Bankruptcy Code “requires all companies to disclose connections, including conflicts of interest, in order to receive the bankruptcy court’s approval to assist an entity through the bankruptcy process,” Biggs wrote to the director of the U.S. Trustee Program, Clifford J. White III. Biggs asked White to explain the disparity of disclosures between McKinsey RTS, the firm’s restructuring unit, and other bankruptcy professionals, and to describe situations in which professional services would be exempt from disclosure rules.
