The trustee overseeing the liquidation of IndyMac Bancorp Inc. is challenging the sale of the company's banking unit and seeking documents from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
Alfred Siegel, the trustee, has requested an order to force the FDIC to turn over papers related to the intended sale and produce some employees for questioning. In papers filed Monday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles, Mr. Siegel said, "Certain of those assets may be property of the estate and, therefore, subject to the automatic stay."
The Pasadena, Calif., thrift was sold to private-equity investors led by Steven Mnuchin of Dune Capital Management, the FDIC said on Jan. 2. Details of the sale, which is expected to close by early February, have not been disclosed, Mr. Siegel said.
"The limited documents currently in the trustee's possession raise serious concerns that the FDIC, as receiver for the bank, may possess assets of the debtor and, therefore, the bankruptcy estate," lawyers for Mr. Siegel wrote.
Mr. Mnuchin's group controls IMB Management Holdings, a thrift holding company, the FDIC said. The agency has agreed to let investor groups without bank charters bid for failing lenders after the financial crisis wiped out 25 institutions in 2008.
IndyMac filed for bankruptcy protection Aug. 1, three weeks after it was taken over by the FDIC.
