On October 4th the Trustee filed a motion for a writ of attachment-link on unspecified assets of the above defendants. He used Reed's plea bargain -link and a declaration against Tony Hitchman as support-link(see important last page) He was successful in getting an attachment of the assets of Tony Hitchman who now lives in South Africa. Mr. Hitchman is appealing his attachment and he along with the above defendants will appear in a legal sense on Dec 20th in Bankruptcy court in Santa Barbara. The judge must find that it is "more likely than not" that the trustee will prevail in his case for the judge to rule in the trustee's favor.. Writs are almost never heard of in fraudulent transfer cases, but one has been issued against Tony Hitchman already so they are in fact quite possible. The countervailing legal arguments revolve around the necessity to identify and trace assets. The trustee's argument goes to the untracabilility of pure cash. Defendants have responded with forensic evidence to show Reed was not running a Ponzi because of significant business activity, multiple successful ventures and the possession of more co-mingled assets after 13 years than net monies entrusted to him. A Ponzi scheme by definition is never solvent. See "Ponzi Scheme?" Copy of Trustee's Motion for writ-link.

The significance of this action is that with assets for defense and living and college education frozen, great pressure can be brought to settle. The trustee's move is a brilliant legal move, using the Hitchman writ success as a template. He would prove the judge willing to allow attachments and then could negotiate with subsequent parties saying that if they do not cooperate, he would file against them as well. With similar facts the judge is unlikely to rule differently in subsequent cases. If the trustee wins the Partial Summary Judgment on Fraudulent Intent in combination with the threat of writ, the trustee could force settlement before discovery.

Dec 20th will be a very significant date in this proceeding. Will Riblett reverse the writ attachment on Hitchman or will she uphold it and order it on the remaining defendants.