The often prolonged and painful road to receiver funds from a bankrupt company is underway for those that the now-defunct Crystal Cruises owes money. The courts appointed Mark Healy, an insolvency specialist with Florida-based Michael Moecker & Associates, to handle the claims process.
There are a total of three companies that need to be liquidated, Crystal Cruises LLC and two related entities, Crystal AirCruises, LLC and Crystal Holdings U.S., LLC.
Maximizing the Recovery of Assets
Insolvency specialist Mark Healy from Florida-based law firm Michael Moecker & Associates will have the difficult task to recover as many funds from the liquidation of bankrupt cruise line Crystal Cruises as possible. However, that task will be much harder than it would seem.
Crystal Cruises was responsible for operations only and did not own any vessels. That leaves soft assets such as customer data and possibly the sale of office equipment and such.
โOur goal is to maximize the recovery of assets and provide a claims process to creditors that allows them to realize the highest potential recovery regardless of the size of their claim,โ said Assignee Mark Healy.
That being said, there might be alternative ways in which guests might be able to recover their funds. “A significant majority of customer money is being held in trust by VISA, Mastercard and American Expressโ โ well over $100m,” said former CEO of the cruise line Jack Anderson according to Bloomberg.
The court-appointed Michael Moecker & Associates and Mark Healy will be working with the credit card companies to approve refunds. Jack Anderson estimated 75% to 80% of customers paid for their cruises by credit card.
Of course, it’s not just the guests to whom Crystal owes monies. Several suppliers are owed millions. One of those is fuel supplier Peninsula Petroleum Far East Pte. Ltd., who moved to have the Crystal ships arrested in January of this year to recover funds.
Guests Can Register Online
Guests who had booked a cruise onboard one of the Crystal Cruises’ ships can already register with a website Healy has already set up, https://crystalcruiseclaims.com/, where guests who are owed money can make their claims.
On this website, guests can also get updates, upload documents related to the case, and get answers to frequently asked questions.
All passengers that have been identified as potential creditors should be receiving an email in the next couple of weeks with a claim form and instructions on how to file a claim. โWe empathize with passengers making claims and will be in communication with them via the website,โ added Healy.
Once the liquidation process has been finalized, Healy will be seeking court approval before Florida 11th Circuit Court Judge Alan Fine to distribute funds to those who have submitted claims.
Crystal Cruises became a victim of the problems surrounding Hong Kong-based Genting, the parent company for Crystal Cruises. The company became one of the most prominent pandemic victims when it filed for bankruptcy in January of this year.