Attorney in Judge Romance Scandal to Exit GWG Bankruptcy Role

An attorney facing scrutiny over her once-secret romance with a former federal judge said she’ll resign from her role in the bankruptcy of life insurance bond seller GWG Holdings Inc.

Elizabeth Freeman will exit her post as wind-down trustee for a GWG trust after a new trustee is appointed, she told the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas in a notice Wednesday. Former GWG bondholders called for her departure due to her failure to disclose her romance with onetime judge David R. Jones, who mediated the Chapter 11 case.

The announcement comes two days after a prominent Houston bankruptcy judge, Marvin Isgur, was forced off the case as a result of his connection with Jones.

Jones resigned from the Houston bankruptcy bench in 2023 after the romance became public.

The GWG bondholders said Freeman’s lack of disclosure allowed Jones, in his mediator role, to appoint her as trustee. Jackson Walker LLP, where she was a partner before resigning from the firm in December 2022, represented GWG in the Chapter 11 case as local counsel.

Freeman, in addition to her work while she was with Jackson Walker, continued to work as a contract attorney on the case after she left the firm, according to court filings.

Jones was tapped by GWG and a special committee in November 2022 to mediate the case, as his romance with Freeman remained under wraps.

Freeman, representing GWG at the time, told Isgur during a Dec. 16, 2022, hearing that she would take “comfort” if Jones were appointed as mediator. It was the same month she left Jackson Walker. Freeman was later appointed as a trustee in the case.

Former GWG bondholders in June sued Freeman, Jones, Jackson Walker and others, arguing they deliberately kept the long-term relationship quiet because it allowed them to manipulate the company’s Chapter 11 case, secure lucrative appointments and fees, deplete GWG’s assets, and render bondholder investments nearly worthless.

The bondholders said Freeman was paid $100,000 a month for the first six months as trustee and $50,000 per month afterward. She’s collected more than $1 million as counsel either for GWG or as the trustee, and was slated to collect about $665,000 in future fees, the motion said.

Freeman in August said the bondholders’ bid to oust her was part of a “scheme” to benefit themselves and an attempt to rewrite GWG’s confirmed Chapter 11 plan and replace her and the litigation trustee with “collaborators.”

An attorney for Freeman declined to comment.

The case is GWG Holdings Inc., Bankr. S.D. Tex., No. 22-90032, notice 11/5/25.