George Weiss Payment Deal With Wife Rejected by Bankruptcy Court

A Florida judge overseeing the bankruptcy of hedge fund manager George Allen Weiss denied a proposed settlement with his wife over missed anniversary payments spanning the past 10 years.

Judge Robert A. Mark of the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida rejected the deal in a one-page order Friday. The arrangement would have compensated Patricia Bravo-Weiss for $8 million her husband failed to pay pursuant to a 2007 agreement.

Weiss said the $800,000 annual payments were intended to support her “maintenance and well-being” and that the prenuptial agreement was the only evidence needed to support the settlement. One of his largest creditors, Jefferies Financial Group Inc., opposed the new deal.

Mark, who didn’t disclose his reasoning for rejecting the settlement, issued the decision after a Thursday hearing that he closed to the public. He said at the time that the parties and a potential ruling would likely refer to confidential details of the prenup.

The ruling “will remain under seal and accessible only to the debtor, Patricia Bravo-Weiss, the Jefferies entities, and their respective counsel,” the judge wrote in the Friday order.

Jefferies called the deal a “ploy” and an “insider deal” because the pair are still married.

The investment bank has argued that the proposed arrangement would cost the bankruptcy estate $8 million. Additionally, a finding that such payments constitute a “domestic support obligation” would give Patricia priority over other creditors, the firm said.

Jefferies also questioned the deal’s bona fides, noting that Weiss stopped making payments for years. The bank asked him to explain the purpose of the payments and how the money was spent.

Weiss responded in court papers that the revised settlement included $800,000 payments in 11 monthly installments, without interest.

Additionally, the couple “deleted the provision that previously sought allowance of Ms. Bravo-Weiss’s prepetition claim” after discussions with the Department of Justice’s bankruptcy monitor.

Mark separately signed off on Weiss’ request to sell a Claude Monet painting to an undisclosed buyer for $36.5 million on Thursday.

Weiss filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June after a court found him liable for more than $100 million in debt that his firm owed Jefferies.

Weiss is represented by Venable LLP. Jefferies is represented by Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP and Meland Budwick PA.

The case is George Allen Weiss, Bankr. S.D. Fla., No. 25-16349, order 10/31/25.