Moar cabal fuckery?
Judge OKs PG&E Plan to Pay $19 M in Fees From Victims Fund
BERKELEY Calif. (AP) — The Northern California victims of catastrophic wildfires caused by Pacific Gas & Electric’s decaying electrical grid will have at least $19 million siphoned away from a $13.5 billion fund for their losses to cover administrative costs.
A bankruptcy judge said he would approve drawing from the victims’ fund as part of a plan reviewed Tuesday during a court hearing. The decision came after PG&E and a committee representing the victims struck an accord on a $21.8 million budget for administering the $13.5 billion fund for the thousands of people who lost loved ones, homes and businesses during a series of deadly wildfires in 2017 and 2018.
PG&E will pay an additional $2.5 million to cover the fund’s administrative fees, but the rest of the money will come from the fund earmarked for the fire victims under the plan that won U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali’s blessing.
Even more money could be diverted from the fire victims’ fund to cover its administrative costs if PG&E’s plan for getting out of bankruptcy gains court approval by June 30, but misses its Aug. 29 target date for becoming effective.
The economic upheaval triggered by the coronavirus pandemic has increased the chances that it may take longer for PG&E to raise the tens of billions of dollars that will be needed to finance its proposed bankruptcy plan than the company envisioned earlier this year.
The uncertainty prompted the company to draw up a contingency plan that calls for the plan becoming effective Dec. 30, which would result in the fire victims having to wait until next year before the $13.5 billion fund starts to pay their claims.
If the plan isn’t effective until Dec. 30, another $21.2 million could be drained from the fire victims’ pool of money.
https://www.actionnewsnow.com/content/news/Judge-OKs-PGE-plan-to-pay-19M-in-fees-from-victims-fund-569644891.html