From the Betancourt docket: Why discussions of settlement at this time? Having probably spent millions prosecuting this lawsuit what would a settlement achieve for BTU Ventures, Inc. BTU Industries Holdings USA, Inc. and Wael Al Mazeedi?

Background
As always, there is always something murky behind any "BTU" associated actions.  Interesting what could be the impetus for this development.
Full docket text:
ELECTRONIC NOTICE OF RESCHEDULING at the request of counsel because of a possibility of settlement:
Hearing set for 2/28/2012 11:00 AM in Courtroom 22 before Judge Joseph L. Tauro. (Lovett, Zita)
Observation
Wael's had 9 attorney's in total (see below) represent him throughout the 3+ yrs. of litigation in the Betancourt case (there are 100+ documents in the docket).  As we discussed in this previous post attorneys at Boston's "top" firms can go anywhere from $700-$900 an hr.  It's not hard to see how you get to the big $$$s pretty quickly.  [Note: Let's see, an average of 4 attorneys working an average of 5 hrs a week X 4 weeks/mo X 12 mos/yr X 3 yrs earning $800/hr = $2.3 million.]

WilmerHaleHarry T. DanielsJoshua D. Jacobson
Richard A. Johnston
Gregory M. Reiser

FoleyHoagBrian P. Bialas
Robert A. Fisher
James W. Bucking
John A. Shope

Other
Leonard G. Learner

Conjecture
Given that the Betancourt trial in US Federal Court would be an open opportunity for everybody involved in:
  • The liquidation of BTU Holdings Company
  • The liquidation of BTU Power Company
  • The Hayat litigation
Would it not make sense for Wael to try to settle with Betancourt at this point so that no information comes out at trial that could be used by anybody involved in the three actions above?  The trustees in the liquidations are no doubt trying to recover as much of the "BTU" assets as they possible can.  Hayat's also got significant monetary claims against Wael.  Any information that could be obtained in the Betancourt trial and used to "reach" for those assets (under the control of Wael and being used for the benefit of Wael) would obviously not be good for Wael.

Undoubtedly Wael's paid for his attorneys from dividends that should have gone to the Middle East investors.  He's probably not paid a single dollar out of his own pocket.  Betancourt on the other hand has probably paid for all his legal representation out of his own resources.  Maybe he's assuming/betting that Betancourt can't go (or doesn't want to go) through the expense of the trial?