RBN (Securities and Exchange Commission)

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Good afternoon,

Thank you for your message. The above noted FOIA request was completed and closed on January 12, 2016. (see attachment). Please note, a new request was opened for this entity (16-01913-FOIA) and you agreed via email to be placed in our FIFO queue for this request. (see attachment).

Thank you,

Tina L. Churchman
U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission
the Office of Support Operations (OSO)
Station Place II, 100 F. Street, N.E.
Washington, DC 20549
(202) 551-8330

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A letter stating that the request appeal has been rejected.

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Mr. Best,

This message refers to the subject Freedom of Information Act request, a copy of which is posted below.

Your request has risen to the top of the First-In-First-Out (FIFO) processing queue. At this time, I wanted to validate your continued interest in these records, if they exist, as well as determine if the scope of your request is correctly identified in your January 13, 2016 request. Based on my understanding, the investigation, based on a revised estimate, consists of 69 boxes of material, approximately 172,500 pages. For clarity, we will need to review these records page-by-page and line-by-line, an effort that can prove to be exceptionally time consuming. Should you have a specific area of focus that might allow for a more expeditious response, please let me know.

I will place this request on hold pending your response. If you do not reply by the close of business, April 19, 2018, I will conclude that you are no longer interested in pursuing this matter and will administratively withdraw the request from our processing queue.

Thank you in advance for your consideration and kindness!

Dave Henshall
FOIA Branch Manager
Office of FOIA Services
Securities and Exchange Commission
100 F Street, NE, Suite 2741
Washington, DC 20549
http://www.sec.gov/foia.shtml
(202) 551-8316

[cid:image001.png@01D3D0E1.942A1040]

Sir,

Thank you for your reply.

Based on what I've seen, the vast majority of records in an investigative file are those documents submitted by the company where they sought request(s) for confidential treatment. If these records are part of the scope, then the full volume assessment would apply. Further, we would need to consult with the submitter(s) on each and every page they produced to obtain their position as to its releasability. The latter effort is usually quite time consuming.

If you are trying to reduce the scope significantly, this will be a good candidate to decrease the overall volume.

I hope this helps!

Dave Henshall
FOIA Branch Manager
Office of FOIA Services
Securities and Exchange Commission
100 F Street, NE, Suite 2741
Washington, DC 20549
http://www.sec.gov/foia.shtml
(202) 551-8316

Any thoughts sir?

Mr. Best,

If at all possible, I'd like to pin down the actual scope of your request. It's either the full 69 boxes of material, the reduce selection based on what I presented in my message of April 12th, or some other variation of your choosing.

Please let me know at your soonest convenience.

Thank you.

Dave Henshall
FOIA Branch Manager
Office of FOIA Services
Securities and Exchange Commission
100 F Street, NE, Suite 2741
Washington, DC 20549
http://www.sec.gov/foia.shtml
(202) 551-8316

Sir,

I'm afraid that we appear to not be connecting on the scope of this request. Absent feedback from you, we intend to close this case as withdrawn on May 1, 2018. Should you care to discuss the scope further, I will be more than happy to assist in any way possible.

Thank you.

Dave Henshall
FOIA Branch Manager
Office of FOIA Services
Securities and Exchange Commission
100 F Street, NE, Suite 2741
Washington, DC 20549
http://www.sec.gov/foia.shtml
(202) 551-8316

Mr. Best,

I'd very much like to work with you on your request. There are certainly other options available such as reviewing a sampling of the content of these 69 boxes, perhaps three box numbers of your choice. Investigatory records generally consist of transcripts of testimony, exhibits, and miscellaneous evidentiary materials. If there is a specific area of focus, feel free to let me know and I'll look to see what we can do.

In the alternative, if we do not hear from you, we will begin processing your request on May 1st for the full 69 boxes, and provide rolling releases as they are available.

Thank you for your help!

Dave Henshall
FOIA Branch Manager
Office of FOIA Services
Securities and Exchange Commission
100 F Street, NE, Suite 2741
Washington, DC 20549
http://www.sec.gov/foia.shtml
(202) 551-8316

Any thoughts sir on this request? Shall we proceed as stated below?

Mr. Best,

We will proceed accordingly sir. For your information, the control number applicable to your case is 16-00032-FIFO.

Thank you.

Dave Henshall
FOIA Branch Manager
Office of FOIA Services
Securities and Exchange Commission
100 F Street, NE, Suite 2741
Washington, DC 20549
http://www.sec.gov/foia.shtml
(202) 551-8316

Mr. Best,

Your FIFO request has been assigned to me for processing. I am in receipt of all of the 69 boxes concerning the subject investigation file. However, I would like to ensure that I have a clear understanding of the records you seek. Please give me a call at the telephone number below to discuss the request.

Thank you,

Felecia Taylor
FOIA Lead Research Specialist
U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission
Office of FOIA Services
100 F Street, NE
Washington, DC 20549-2465
(202) 551-8349 - telephone number
(202) 772-9337 - fax number

Mr. Best,

Please clarify the scope of your request. Are you only seeking records within the 69 boxes of investigation records relating to Robert Booth Nichols, Samuel Israel and Bayou Hedge Fund Group?

Thank you,

Felecia Taylor
FOIA Lead Research Specialist
U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission
Office of FOIA Services
100 F Street, NE
Washington, DC 20549-2465
(202) 551-8349 - telephone number
(202) 772-9337 - fax number

Ms. Best,

Thank you.

Felecia Taylor
FOIA Lead Research Specialist
U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission
Office of FOIA Services
100 F Street, NE
Washington, DC 20549-2465
(202) 551-8349 - telephone number
(202) 772-9337 - fax number

Ms. Best,

Thank you for your inquiry below.

As you know, we identified 69 boxes of investigative records that may contain documents responsive to your request. We took a cursory review of the records and identified the following: a variety of production material that are subject to requests for confidential treatment, SEC internal memorandum and correspondence, SEC staff notes, SEC legal research, transcripts, exhibits, subpoenas, etc. Based on the attached communication, you clarified your request and stated you are seeking records within the 69 boxes of records relating to Robert Booth Nichols, Samuel Israel and Bayou Hedge Fund Group. With respect to the portion of your request for records concerning the Bayou Hedge Fund Group, please provide us with the names of companies or individuals that pertain to this group.

For your information, the material subject to confidential treatment (CT) require consultations with the submitters of the documents subject to Rule 83, 17 CFR § 200.83. This process is very time-consuming as the FOIA Office must notify each CT submitter of the FOIA request and allow them an opportunity to substantiate his/her claims for confidentiality. Please advise if you are interested in obtaining the records that are subject to requests for CT.

Finally, in an effort to allow us to process the request more effectively and quickly, please advise if we can exclude all SEC internal correspondence/memorandum, intra-agency or inter-agency correspondence/memorandum, legal research, attorney work product from the scope of the request. If you know the exact types of records you are seeking, please provide the description of those records to me. Once I receive your response to this message, we can begin reviewing and redacting the documents pursuant to the FOIA and release them to you on a rolling basis.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Thank you,

Felecia Taylor
FOIA Lead Research Specialist
U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission
Office of FOIA Services
100 F Street, NE
Washington, DC 20549-2465
(202) 551-8349 - telephone number
(202) 772-9337 - fax number

Ms. Best,

Based on the documentation you provided, it appears the Bayou Hedge Fund Group consists of the companies listed below. Please confirm if this is correct. Also, based on your e-mail message below, we will consider all attorney work product (writings, notes, memoranda, reports that reflect the attorney’s impressions, conclusions, opinions or legal research or theories) as non-responsive to the pending request. Is this consistent with your scope modification intent?

· Bayou Management, LLC

· Bayou Accredited Fund, LLC

· Bayou Affiliates Fund, LLC

· Bayou No Leverage Fund, LLC

· Bayou Superfund, LLC

If you have any questions, please contact me.

Thank you,

Felecia Taylor
FOIA Lead Research Specialist
U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission
Office of FOIA Services
100 F Street, NE
Washington, DC 20549-2465
(202) 551-8349 - telephone number
(202) 772-9337 - fax number

Ms. Best,

We are in the process of scanning the potentially responsive records into our electronic database. However, we hope to start issuing partial responses by no later than September 7, 2018.

If you have any additional questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Thank you,

Felecia Taylor
FOIA Lead Research Specialist
U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission
Office of FOIA Services
100 F Street, NE
Washington, DC 20549-2465
(202) 551-8349 - telephone number
(202) 772-9337 - fax number

Ms. Best,

We are still reviewing the records responsive to your request. We should be able to provide our first partial response by no later than October 30, 2018.

Thank you,

Felecia Taylor
FOIA Lead Research Specialist
U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission
Office of FOIA Services
100 F Street, NE
Washington, DC 20549-2465
(202) 551-8349 - telephone number
(202) 772-9337 - fax number

Good afternoon, Ms. Best. In reviewing the numerous boxes of records, we’re finding that a large number of them contain only bank statements, bank deposit slips, and checks. Since these bank statements encompass such a huge portion of the records we’ve viewed in these boxes, we want to make sure that you are interested in them before we begin scanning and redacting personal information on them.

Moreover, we need to discern whether the 5 institutions you listed below have gone out of business. This would impact how we proceed with the requirements of 17 CFR Section 200.83 with respect to any confidential treatment matters.

Please contact us as soon as possible so that we will know how to proceed.
Thanks

Jeff Ovall
FOIA Branch Chief
FOIA/Privacy Act Office
Securities and Exchange Commission
100 F Street, NE
Room 2738, Station Place 2
Washington, DC 20549
Phone (202) 551-6376
Ovallj@sec.gov<mailto:Ovallj@sec.gov>

Ms. Best,

Please see the message below from Mr. Jeffery Ovall and advise how you wish to proceed at your earliest convenience.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Thank you,

Felecia Taylor
FOIA Lead Research Specialist
U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission
Office of FOIA Services
100 F Street, NE
Washington, DC 20549-2465
(202) 551-8349 - telephone number
(202) 772-9337 - fax number

Good afternoon, Ms. Best. We have been unsuccessful at communicating with you concerning your FOIA request. Since we cannot confirm you are still actively interested in your FOIA request, we are going to put it on Hold until November 9, 2018. If you do not get back to us with clarification by that date, your request will be administratively closed. This does not preclude you from submitting another FOIA request at any time.

Sincerely,

Thanks, Ms. Best. Any chance we can have a phone number in case we need to discuss your case again. It sure would make communications a lot better.

Ms. Best,

We are actively processing your request. As you know, there are 69 boxes of hard copy records that may be responsive to your request. Each box must be reviewed for responsive records, scanned into our electronic database and then reviewed pursuant to the FOIA. We anticipate that we will be able to provide you with our first interim response on or before Friday, February 15, 2019.

We apologize for the delay. Thank you for your patience.

Felecia Taylor
FOIA Lead Research Specialist
U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission
Office of FOIA Services
100 F Street, NE
Washington, DC 20549-2465
(202) 551-8349 - telephone number
(202) 772-9337 - fax number

Ms. Best,

I hope all is well with you and that you and your family are staying safe during the Covid-19 pandemic. As you know, the FOIA Office is processing your request for investigative records relating to Bayou Management, LLC, et al. I am reaching out to you to determine if you are still interested in our processing of your request. Please let me know at your earliest convenience.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Thank you,

Felecia Taylor
FOIA Lead Research Specialist
U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission
Office of FOIA Services
100 F Street, NE
Washington, DC 20549-2465
(202) 551-8349 - telephone number
(202) 772-9337 - fax number

taylorf@sec.gov sent you a secure message


Ms. Best,

Please find attached a copy of the releasable records concerning the above-referenced request number.

Thank you,

Felecia Taylor

Access message (https://wft.sec.gov/w/JJagYy8zhEtTNG69y12NkMY4JuL4I1h2KHtTtWHdoWFRk)


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Attachments expire on Oct 30, 2020


1 PDF
16-00032-FIFO - Releasable records - 9-24-2020.pdf
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Please see the attached response.  Note, the releasable records will be sent under separate cover.