The liability of the insolvency administrator pursuant to sec. 60 InsO is a continuous subject of legal discourse. There are repeated calls for a limitation of the liability risk. This work pursues a new approach: the fundamentals and function of the insolvency administrator's liability are examined and, for the first time, compared with the liability of the bankruptcy trustee under U.S. bankruptcy law. Among other things, it is revealed that the bankruptcy trustee is subject to far greater court and creditor control than his German counterpart and that the principle of "concurrence of control and liability," which is essential for the comparatively strict liability under sec. 60 InsO, is not universally implemented.