• Benjamin S. Sieck works on bankruptcy and restructuring matters. Ben assists in the representation of significant parties, including bondholders and unsecured creditors, in complex Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases, out-of-court restructurings, and other distressed situations.

    Ben previously worked as a summer associate at Kramer Levin. During law school, he also interned with the City Energy Project of the Natural Resources Defense Council. A talented writer and editor, Ben served as the editor-in-chief, managing editor and sports editor, and as a sports reporter, for The Butler Collegian. Between college and law school, he worked as a staff and contributing writer for Comeback Media, covering breaking news and major events in sports, pop culture and the media.

    Experience

    • Fulcrum – Assist in the representation of the indenture trustee for more than $280 million of secured bonds issued to fund a biofuel project startup, which filed for Chapter 11 relief in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware on September 9, 2024, seeking to sell substantial all project assets to a third-party purchaser. 

    • University of the Arts – Assist in the representation of the indenture trustee for more than $50 million of industrial revenue bonds issued to support the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in connection with Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware following the University’s abrupt closure. 

    • Enviva, Inc. – Assist in the representation of the indenture trustee for two issuances totaling $350 million of tax-exempt industrial revenue bonds guaranteed by Enviva Inc. in negotiating two RSAs on behalf of the bonds prior to Enviva’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on March 12, 2024. 

    • AES Puerto Rico, LP  – Assisted in the representation of bondholders of AES Puerto Rico, LP, the owner and operator of Puerto Rico’s only coal-fired power plant, in the consensual out-of-court restructuring that exchanged existing bonds for restructured tax-exempt bonds and preferred shares and that provided rescue financing for AES Puerto Rico. 

    • RCS Creditor Trust: Represented the RCS Creditor Trust, formed pursuant to the confirmed Chapter 11 plan in the bankruptcy case of RCS Capital Corp., in the general unsecured claims administration process and in pursuit of litigation assets transferred to the trust for the benefit of unsecured creditors.

    • Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) – Assisted in the representation of holders of more than $3 billion in bonds issued by PREPA in connection with the court-supervised restructuring pursuant to Title III of the federal Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA) restructuring law.

    • Brazos Electric Power Cooperative Inc. – Assisted in the representation of the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of Brazos Electric Power Cooperative Inc., which filed for Chapter 11 protection in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas on March 1, 2021.

    • Seadrill Ltd. – Assisted in the representation of Dolphin Drilling in connection with the bankruptcy case of Seadrill, the owner and operator oil drillships, semisubmersible rigs, and jack-up rigs. Seadrill filed for bankruptcy relief in February 2021 with approximately $5.6 billion in financial debt, and Dolphin, an offshore oil well driller that operates primarily in the North Sea, sought to acquire certain assets of Seadrill in bankruptcy. As part of that effort, Dolphin joined a consortium with two other parties to bid on all of Seadrill’s assets.

    • Noble Corp. plc– Assisted in the representation of a bondholder group with more than $695 million of bond debt in negotiations with Noble Corp. plc to restructure its balance sheet. Noble, a leading owner and operator in the offshore drilling industry, filed for bankruptcy on July 31, 2020, in the Southern District of Texas with roughly $4 billion of financial debt, including approximately $3.5 billion in bond debt and an approximately $545 million drawn revolver. The bondholder group negotiated and agreed with Noble prior to the bankruptcy filing on a Restructuring Support Agreement providing for the conversion of all Noble’s debt to equity pursuant to a Chapter 11 plan of reorganization, in a deal supported by all of Noble’s key creditor constituencies. The Restructuring Support Agreement also contemplated a rights offering for the issuance of $200 million of new second lien notes upon Noble’s emergence from bankruptcy, a portion of which was backstopped by the bondholder group.

    • Bluestem – Assisted in the representation of Bluestem Group Inc. (BGI), the non-debtor parent company and largest unsecured creditor of Bluestem Brands Inc. (BBI) in connection with BBI’s bankruptcy filing in the District of Delaware on March 9, 2020. BBI was an online and catalog retailer with more than $1.7 billion in sales in 2019. BBI’s restructuring was accomplished through a global settlement among BBI, BGI and other key constituencies, which resulted in the successful sale of substantially all of the debtors’ assets to BBI’s pre-petition secured lenders pursuant to a plan of reorganization that became effective on Aug. 28, 2020.  

    Credentials

    Education

    • J.D., Duke University School of Law, 2019
      • Online Editor, Law & Contemporary Problems
      • Liaison and Sports Symposium Chair, Sports and Entertainment Law Society
    • B.A., cum laude, Journalism, Butler University, 2015
      • Co-editor-in-chief, The Butler Collegian
      • Society of Professional Journalists “Best of Indiana Journalism” award for student sports reporting
      • Indiana Collegiate Press Association Award for breaking news reporting

    Bar Admissions

    • New York, 2020