Distribution of Proceeds of Foreign Claims Settlement Commission Award

The Department of the Treasury requested a determination of what person or persons was entitled to proceeds of a Foreign Claims Settlement Commission award to Poplar Grove Farms Federal, Incorporated. Treasury's submission was based upon a claim to part of those proceeds by the attorney who represented Poplar Grove before the Commission. In 1979, the People's Republic of China agreed to provide monies for payment of Commission awards to be paid over a 5-year period, beginning that year. The Commission certified several hundred of the awards to the Treasury for payment, including that of Poplar Grove. The Treasury submitted the matter pursuant to Federal regulations which provide that a claim for proceeds of a Commission award be paid to the persons or persons found by GAO to be entitled when a corporate awardee has been terminated and no court-appointed trustee is empowered to act on behalf of the corporation. In its submission, the Treasury proposed that either payment be made directly to the successors in the interest of the sole shareholder of Poplar Grove or to Poplar Grove as though it had not been dissolved. In the opinion of GAO, Poplar Grove was a terminated corporation. Since there was no corporate board member to whom payment could have been made, GAO concluded that the monies awarded Poplar Grove should be distributed to the heir or heirs of the sole shareholder of Poplar Grove.