 | | Featured Premium Content | | | | | WSJ Pro Bankruptcy: Paul Weiss Limits Forever 21 Role to Nonbankruptcy Matters
F21, the company that operates Forever 21’s U.S. stores, agreed with a government bankruptcy watchdog to curtail the scope of the work assigned to the law firm working as special counsel on its bankruptcy liquidation, WSJ Pro reported. F21 faced opposition from the U.S. Trustee’s Office, the federal watchdog over bankruptcy courts, over its selection of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison as a special counsel. The U.S. Trustee argued the law firm had conflicts of interest stemming from its work advising F21’s parent company before and after the fast-fashion retailer filed for bankruptcy. READ MORE | | | | | SPONSORED CONTENTPrivate Credit and BSLs: Friends or Foes? With private credit and broadly syndicated loans (BSLs) competing for dominance, the lending landscape is in flux. But can these markets ultimately work hand in hand? SRS Acquiom, in partnership with Debtwire, surveyed 200 senior executives from alternative asset management firms across Europe and the U.S. to uncover the true dynamics of these two critical markets. Download the Report | | |  | | Editor's Picks | | | | | A Bankrupt Developer, Actor Kevin James and a $14 Million Fixer-Upper
Actor Kevin James has been thrust into the bankruptcy of National Realty Investment Advisors, a real-estate developer that filed for chapter 11 protection in 2022, the Wall Street Journal reported. National’s creditors continue to go after what’s left of the Secaucus, N.J.-based firm’s assets. One of those assets is a portion of the proceeds from a 2021 sale of the Delray Beach, Fla., mansion to James. (Subscription required.) READ MORE | | FTX and Celsius Repayments Left Billions in Value Behind. The DOJ May Change That
The U.S. Department of Justice is reconsidering how victims in digital asset bankruptcies and enforcement cases are compensated, DLNews reported. In an April 7 memo, the DOJ said it may recommend new rules or legislative fixes after creditors in cases like FTX and Celsius lost out on billions in asset appreciation. It cited several other bankruptcies and incidents where investors lost access to crypto holdings that later surged in value, including Voyager, Genesis, BlockFi, and Gemini. READ MORE | | Millions of Student Loan Borrowers Are Behind on Payments
After a five-year pause on penalizing borrowers for not making student loan payments, the federal government dropped the hammer. It instructed its loan servicers to start reporting late payers to credit bureaus at the start of the year, the New York Times reported. The result: Millions of borrowers saw their credit scores plunge in recent months, and loan servicers are warning that a record number of borrowers are at risk of defaulting by the end of the year. Only one-third of the 38 million Americans who have borrowed money to pay for college or graduate school and should be making payments actually are, according to government data. READ MORE
MORE NEWS BELOW | | | | |  | | Upcoming Events | | | | | ABI Annual Spring Meeting Marriott Marquis
April 24-26 | Washington, D.C. | | ABI International Latin America Symposium Charleston Santa Teresa Cartagena
May 12-14 | Cartagena, Colombia | | | | | | |  | | Daily Roundup | | | | | Co-Working Space Provider Innovation Studio Files for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy
Innovation Studio, a nonprofit known for operating inclusive co-working spaces and fostering entrepreneurship in underrepresented communities, has filed for chapter 7 protection, according to a report by the Boston Business Journal. In a filing submitted on April 8, the Roxbury, Mass.-based nonprofit listed $701,117 in liabilities against just $27,000 in assets, BBJ reported. The organization, headquartered in Nubian Square, had aimed to provide accessible innovation spaces in Boston and beyond, but mounting debts ultimately led to the decision to liquidate. READ MORE | | U.S. Small Manufacturers Hope to Benefit from Tariffs, but Some Worry About Uncertainty
Drew Greenblatt is fully on board with the Trump administration’s use of tariffs to rebalance a global trading system that it says favors foreign companies over U.S. manufacturers, the Associated Press reported. Greenblatt is the president and owner of Marlin Steel Wire Products in Baltimore, which makes baskets and racks for medical device manufacturers, aerospace companies, food processing companies and others. It has 115 employees and makes its products in three locations in Maryland, Indiana and Michigan, and the steel is sourced from Tennessee, Illinois and Michigan. READ MORE | | Refinery's Bankruptcy to Come with Plant Improvements
This week's bankruptcy filing by the owner of a California refinery on Rosedale Highway may sound bad — and it is for investors holding shares in the company. But chapter 11 reorganization is expected to bring improvements that could make the plant run more smoothly, Bakersfield.com reported. According to paperwork since Tuesday by locally based Global Clean Energy Holdings Inc., $75 million will be invested to "fine-tune, improve and optimize the efficiency and quality" of the plant's operations. READ MORE | | CFPB Job Cuts Blocked by Federal Judge While Union Lawsuit Proceeds
A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s most recent attempt to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau after the agency’s leadership moved to fire more than 1,400 employees on Thursday, the Washington Post reported. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson issued a written order Friday that halted the firings pending the outcome of a lawsuit brought by the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents the CFPB’s roughly 1,700 workers. Jackson scheduled a hearing for later this month to determine whether Thursday’s mass layoffs violated a preliminary injunction she issued in March that barred the Trump administration from issuing reduction-in-force letters to any CFPB employees. READ MORE | | Capital One's $35.3 Billion Merger with Discover Approved
U.S. banking regulators said on Friday they approved Capital One's $35.3 billion purchase of Discover Financial Services, paving the way for the combined firms to become the nation's eighth-largest bank, USA Today reported. The Federal Reserve and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said they completed a "fulsome review" of the banks' 2024 application, approving a deal set to create the biggest U.S. credit card issuer by balances, and give Capital One control of Discover's extensive card payment network. READ MORE | | | | |
