Cole Schotz’s Michael Sirota received a phone call from an attorney in Israel between 3 and 4 a.m. asking if he could file upward of 200 bankruptcy cases in 24 hours, according to a hearing in bankruptcy court.

The Shabselses’ camp and real estate empire had collapsed with no warning. The brothers raised $200 million in December from the Israeli bond market and had received a blessing of an investment-grade rating by the ratings agency Midroog.

Sirota learned in addition to the 30 camps, the Shabseles also owned 55 non-camp properties through an LLC known as Damis, which included a water park in New York. Both Simad and Damis split their real estate into two entities, a property company and a land company, leading to about 200 entities controlled or partially owned by the brothers. 

Sirota, a white shoe lawyer who helped restructure the upscale kitchen supply store Sur La Table, joined a team with newly appointed restructuring officer Asaf Ravid, an Israeli best known for completing the restructuring of Yoel Goldman’s All Year Holdings, to take control of Simad. Victor, a veteran of bankruptcy and distressed deals, is a former bankruptcy attorney who has been inducted into the Turnaround, Restructuring and Distressed Investing Hall of Fame. 

Sirota said the situation was urgent. About 20,000 children across the East Coast were about to get on buses to head to their camps.

“There was the need for an immediate call to action, and it was apparent that the Simad debtors would not be able to satisfy their funded debt obligations without the benefits of a Chapter 11 to avoid potentially catastrophic impacts on the summer camp season,” said Sirota, at a hearing in bankruptcy court on Aug. 10. 

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