U.S. Trustee: Puerto Rico official retiree committee to be appointed

By Caroline Salls

Pittsburgh, May 19 – The U.S. Trustee overseeing the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico’s Title III restructuring case agrees that an official retiree committee should be appointed for the case, according to a Friday filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Puerto Rico.

Acting Region 21 U.S. trustee Guy G. Gebhardt said he the United States Trustee expects to complete the committee solicitation process no later than June 16 and will hold formation meetings as soon as possible after the solicitation is complete.

As previously reported, an informal retirees committee asked the court to order the U.S. Trustee to appoint an official committee for the protection of accrued retirement benefits of Puerto Rico’s public employees.

The retirees also asked the court to appoint members of the informal committee to the official committee. However, Gebhardt said in Friday’s filing that the court lacks the authority to designate or appoint specific committee members.

According to the motion, the claims for pension underfunding in Puerto Rico’s Title III proceedings are estimated at roughly $50 billion.

Puerto Rico announced its Title III petition filing on May 3. The case number is 17-03283.

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