Many customers have written me since my last post,
Progress on payments, seeking clarification as to whether the payments for sellers from new (
post Jan. 15) Marketplace and fixed price auction sales are “definitely off limits to creditors.”
The short answer is “yes.”
I understand the language we have used is a bit legalistic but let be call out a paragraph from that prior post again:
“Payment for transactions completed after January 15, 2010 is being managed by the Assignee and, the funds are being segregated for payments owed to sellers (although processing will take longer than usual during the Assignment which took place on January 15).”
The longer explanation can be better understood if I point you to an earlier post,
Update from Vinfolio’s Assignee, in which the ABC process is described in more detail. In particular:
Vinfolio (the “Company” or “Vinfolio”) entered into an Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors (“Assignment”) on Friday evening, January 15, 2010 to Vinfolio (assignment for the benefit of creditors), LLC (“Assignee”), an affiliated entity to Sherwood Partners, LLC (Sherwood”).
The bolded text above references a
new company set up by Sherwood, and separately licensed via the CA Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, through which
all transactions are now processed. On a go forward basis, all sales are being managed by the Assignee and the Assignee is holding the sale proceeds separately, so only sellers have a right to these funds.
Timing of sale-related paymentsMy
last post covered payments (whether cash or credit) relating to January 15th and
earlier. Checks were mailed
yesterday (or credits issued) for completed sale transactions during the January 1-15th period. At this time, for
pre-January 1 transactions, we are not able to provide a further update on
fixed price auction transactions but our records indicate all completed
Marketplace transactions are now caught up in terms of payment (the main reason is that these were on a shorter payment cycle than fixed priced auctions). Any new owner of Vinfolio assets would determine whether to assume the remaining liabilities associated with fixed price auction sales (or others) for the period prior to January 1. However, the sale process for Vinfolio, Inc.’s assets is not yet complete and there is no guarantee it will ultimately succeed.
The Assignee (or a successor company that acquires its assets) will ultimately make payments for all sale transactions completed
after January 15. During the Assignment, this process is elongated by a week to 10 days from the prior one as the Assignee has responsibility for this process and must run it through their protocols. Because sale proceeds are being put in a separate account by the Assignee, Sherwood is able to fund payments to sellers for all transactions after January 15, 2010, and in a worst case scenario, there will be an orderly wind-up (including full payments for the amounts due after January 15, 2010).
I hope this provides further clarification to provide customers with the confidence to proceed with their sale transactions in the Marketplace and via fixed priced auctions.
P.S. Payments for completed Marketplace and fixed price auction sales during the
second half of January will be mailed (or credits issued) on Friday, February 12.
