APCO REPS MF GLOBAL’S TRUSTEE
APCO Worldwide is handling media for MF Global court-appointed trustee, James Giddens, who is handling the distribution of assets to customers of the former investment firm of Jersey Senator/Governor Jon Corzine.
Financial media reported that the estimate of the amount of “missing assets” has doubled to $1.2B.
APCO executive VP and crisis pro Kent Jarrell is spokesperson for the trustee.
He told O’Dwyer’s that APCO was “retained by the Trustee for the Liquidation of MF Global Inc. in the hours following the Trustee’s appointment by a federal judge in New York on Oct. 31.”
Jarrell, who served as lead on the Lehman Bros. liquidation, also handled media for Merck’s Vioxx litigation, WorldCom’s restructuring, Ford Motor’s battle with Firestone and Alaska Airlines’ plane crash probe.
On MF Global, Jarrell is supported by APCO staffers in New York and Washington, D.C.
Customer accounts of $5.5B were frozen in the aftermath of MF Global's collapse.
Giddens, so far, has distributed $1.5B in collateral to customers and is returning $520M in cash.
He said he remains committed to returning 100 percent of client money.
LONGTIME OSCAR PR PRO TO EXIT
Longtime Oscar PR pro Leslie Unger is stepping down in December as communications director for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
The Academy installed a new CEO, Dawn Hudson, in June and tapped film PR and marketing vet Christina Kounelias as chief marketing officer in late July.
The Academy’s PR was placed under Kounelias’ purview.
Unger is slated to exit on Dec. 2 after 19 years with the Academy.
She joined in 1992 as a publicity coordinator and took the reins as communications director in 2007 on the retirement of John Pavlik after the 79th Academy Awards that year.
Pavlik was the Oscars’ first in-house PR head, setting up the Academy's unit in 1992.
Unger most recently handled the resignation of Oscar producer Brett Ratner, following an anti-gay remark. His exit preceded the departure of comedian Eddie Murphy as host of the event.
The 84th Academy Awards event is planned for Feb. 26, 2012 with Billy Crystal as host. |
