Judge Rifkind

"I also told the governor that we should instruct the New York bank superintendent to keep one bank open beyond the normal 3 P.M. closing time. My thought was that if Shanker waited until the last minute to agree, we’d need to have a bank ready to receive the funds. After a conversation with Carey, the state bank superintendent, John Heimann, instructed Manufacturers Hanover to remain open until midnight. To make sure that this “after hours” strategy was actually practical, I called Judge Rifkind and asked for a legal opinion. Did New York have until midnight to pay off its notes rather than the usual bank closing time at 3 P.M.? Rifkind, to my great satisfaction, concurred that default for nonpayment would not occur until the end of the entire day."

"We had to craft a structure that would scrupulously satisfy state law. But, as Judge Rifkind kept reminding me, no matter how deftly our legal experts designed this vehicle, there was still no guarantee that it would pass the scrutiny of state judges. They were political creatures, and their decisions were more often than not grounded in political rather than legal concerns."