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June 13, 2007
Committee Hearing Focusing on Consumer Protection in Financial
Services
The House Financial Services
Committee will hold a hearing today to focus on the adequacy of current
federal consumer protection rules (including agencies’ use of
authority against unfair and deceptive financial trade practices), the
effectiveness of existing consumer complaint resolution mechanisms,
improvements that may be needed in both of these areas and the future
role of state agencies in protecting financial consumers.
href='http://www.house.gov/apps/list/hearing/financialsvcs_dem/ht061307.shtml'>Click
here to watch the hearing and review the witness
list.
Approves Tower Records' Liquidation Plan
Bankrupt music retailer
Tower Records received court approval on Monday for the latest draft of
its chapter 11 plan,
size='3'>Bankruptcy Law360 reported yesterday.
Tower filed its first plan on March 26, with creditors and other
interested parties immediately filing objections. On May 22, the company
offered a modified version of both its plan and its disclosure statement
in an effort to quell protests by various creditors over the original
plan. However, the second plan still did not satisfy the unsecured
creditors’ committee, who asked the court a day later to terminate
Tower Records' exclusivity period and allow the committee to file a
competing plan. The court order approving the latest plan allows for
objections from interested parties to be filed through July 25. A
confirmation hearing on the plan is scheduled to begin on July
31.
href='http://bankruptcy.law360.com/Secure/ViewArticle.aspx?id=26632'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
Subprime
Mortgages
name='3'>Ownit Mortgage Solutions Gets More Time to File
Plan
Bankrupt subprime lender
Ownit Mortgage Solutions Inc. has convinced its unsecured
creditors’ committee and the U.S. Trustee overseeing its chapter
11 proceedings to agree to extend Ownit's exclusive rights to file and
seek support for a restructuring plan by about four weeks,
Bankruptcy Law360
reported yesterday. It marked the third time Ownit's
exclusive rights were extended since it sought bankruptcy protection in
December 2006. The deadline after which Ownit's exclusive right to file
a chapter 11 plan will expire has been pushed to June 27, and Ownit's
exclusive right to lobby for acceptance of the plan has been extended
through August 29. Ownit is contemplating filing a plan of liquidation,
debtor counsel Jonathan Kim said Tuesday.
href='http://bankruptcy.law360.com/Secure/ViewArticle.aspx?id=26646'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
name='4'>New Century Dismisses Two Executives
New Century said that it fired
its CEO Brad A. Morrice and its executive vice president, Anthony T.
Meola, “without cause,” and that both men would get
severance payments under their employment agreements to the extent that
the company’s bankruptcy permitted, Dow Jones Newswires reported
yesterday. New Century said in its disclosure, which was filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission, that Morrice was succeeded by Holly
F. Etlin, who had been the chief restructuring officer. New Century also
said that it had named Michael Tinsley, the company’s controller,
as chief financial officer, succeeding Tajvinder S. Bindra, whose
resignation was disclosed last week.
href='http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/13/business/13lend.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print'>Read
more.
name='5'>Ameriquest Wants New Century Stay Lifted
Ameriquest Mortgage Co. filed a
motion Monday in New Century Financial Corp.'s
size='3'>chapter 11 proceedings requesting relief from the automatic
stay in order to pursue an action against a couple who defaulted on an
Ameriquest loan,
size='3'>Bankruptcy Law360 reported yesterday.
Ameriquest’s motion, filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the
District of Delaware, focuses on James and Rita Murphy, who defaulted on
a $70,000 Ameriquest
mortgage. After reviewing the title of the Murphys' property, Ameriquest
learned that New Century also held a lien against the property.
Ameriquest said that the stay in New Century’s chapter 11
proceedings is postponing its action against the Murphys, to
Ameriquest’s detriment.
href='http://bankruptcy.law360.com/Secure/ViewArticle.aspx?id=26623'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
name='6'>Adelphia Lenders Not Safe from Creditor
Lawsuit
A massive lawsuit brought by
creditors and shareholders of bankrupt Adelphia
size='3'>Communications Corp. against 380 lenders allegedly involved in
the company's disintegration will continue in court after a bankruptcy
judge refused to dismiss it on Monday,
size='3'>Bankruptcy Law360 reported yesterday.
The cable company's creditors and shareholders accuse the lenders,
including 24 investment banks, of looking the other way while Adelphia's
founding family defrauded the company of over $2 billion. Judge Robert
E. Gerber of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New
York threw out some of the claims in the case, but kept most of the
lawsuit claims. The creditors and shareholders in the case are asking
for $5 billion, even though, at the end of January, an estimated 19,700
proofs of claim seeking $3.98 trillion had been filed against Adelphia,
according to court documents.
href='http://bankruptcy.law360.com/secure/ViewArticle.aspx?Id=26697'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
name='7'>Werner Co. Sells Assets to Emerge from
Bankruptcy
Ladder maker Werner Co.
said it has completed the sale of most of its assets to a group of
investors in a deal valued at about $270 million, which will enable it
to emerge from bankruptcy, the Associated Press reported yesterday.
Werner sought bankruptcy protection last June because of rising costs of
aluminum and other materials, and its recovery plan was approved in
April. Investors included Black Diamond Capital Management LLC,
Brencourt Advisors LLC, Levine Leichtman Capital Partners III, L.P.,
Milk Street Investors LLC, Schultze Asset Management LLC and TCW Shared
Opportunity Funds. Werner has about 750 workers in
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Pennsylvania
size='3'>California
size='3'>Mexico
outsourcing arrangements in
w:st='on'>
size='3'>China
size='3'>.
name='8'>Former NFL Star Faces Bankruptcy
Former NFL receiver Andre Rison
faces a court-ordered bankruptcy to pay more than $105,000 in back child
support and other claims, the Associated Press reported
yesterday. Terese
Dear, a courtroom deputy for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in
size='3'>Flint
that an order was entered June 6 to put Rison into chapter 11
bankruptcy. Rison has until June 25 to respond before the court proceeds
with efforts to recover his assets, Dear said. Rison's ex-wife, Tonja
Rison of
face='Times New





Roman'
size='3'>Southfield,
Mich., is listed as one of the creditors. Her claim is for more
than $58,000 in child support. An
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Atlanta
is claiming another $46,000 in unpaid legal fees for seeking child
support from Rison for two children by a girlfriend.
O.J.
Simpson's Daughter Ordered to Testify in Bankruptcy Case
A federal bankruptcy judge
ordered O.J. Simpson's daughter Tuesday to give a deposition by week's
end in a lawsuit about the former football star's canceled book, ''If I
Did It,'' the Associated Press reported yesterday. A judge already
ordered the bankrupt company owned by Simpson's children to turn over
any copies of the book in which the former NFL star explains how he
might have committed the killings of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and
Ron Goldman. Goldman's family wants to rename the book ''Confessions of
a Double Murderer'' and sell it to collect part of the $33.5 million
they won nearly a decade after a civil jury found Simpson liable for
Goldman's death.
href='http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Simpson-Lawsuit.html?pagewanted=print'>Read
more.
name='10'>House Committee Chair Seeks Loan Subsidy Cut in College
Financial Aid Bill
House Education and Labor
Chairman George Miller (D-Calif.) introduced legislation yesterday that
would slash subsidies to private lenders to pay for a Pell Grant
increase and expand the government-run Direct Loan program,
CongressDaily
size='3'>reported yesterday. 'This is a tremendous, historic step
towards realizing the goal of making college affordable for every
qualified student in the country,' Miller said. 'With this bill, we are
saying that no one should be denied the opportunity to go to college
simply because of the price.' The legislation, slated for a full
committee markup today, would boost federal higher education spending by
$20 billion over five years. It includes language to cut the current 6.8
percent interest rate on need-based aid in half by 2012 -- a measure
passed by the House in January as part of the Democrats' first 100 hours
agenda -- and offer tuition assistance to college undergraduates who
agree to work in a low-income school district for five years. The bill
would also provide loan forgiveness for first responders, police
officers, firefighters, nurses, public defenders and others in the
public service industry after 10 years.
href='http://www.house.gov/apps/list/speech/edlabor_dem/rel061207.html'>Click
here to read Miller’s press release on the
legislation.
name='11'>Commentary: Can Ford Engineer a Jump Start?
Ford Motor Co.'s move to
shop for potential buyers for its British luxury brands comes amid signs
the auto maker's turnaround plan is struggling, as revenue plunges and
divisions appear within the Ford family over the state of the company,
the Wall Street
Journal reported today. Ford confirmed
yesterday it is working with bankers 'to find the best way forward' for
its Land Rover and Jaguar brands, which are part of the Ford Premier
Automotive Group (PAG) that has lost nearly $4.8 billion since 2004
despite numerous restructuring efforts. Ford doesn't break out results
from the two brands, but it attributes much of the red ink to Jaguar.
Swedish brand Volvo is also part of PAG. The move reflects a decision
that Ford should focus on mass-market products and cut losses on the
luxury brands, particularly Jaguar.
href='http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118164797904332426.html?mod=home_whats_news_us'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
International
name='12'>Four International Banks to Face Trial in Parmalat
Case
Four international banks
will face trial for alleged market-rigging in
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Milan
the proceedings stemming from Parmalat SpA's multibillion-euro collapse
in 2003, the Wall Street
Journal reported today. The four banks are
Citigroup Inc., UBS AG, Deutsche Bank AG and Morgan Stanley and have
been sent to trial for their alleged administrative responsibility in
the case. Parmalat declared bankruptcy in December 2003 after saying it
didn't have the cash on hand to meet creditors' deadlines. It revealed a
debt of €14 billion -- eight times higher than it had previously
announced. Since Parmalat's collapse, prosecutors in
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Italy
size='3'>have uncovered what they say was a web of corruption that
included Italian and international banks. Prosecutors have said they
believe that banks have released false information regarding bonds to
the market because they were acting in concert with the former
management of Parmalat. The defendants face a trial that is scheduled to
start Jan. 22 in
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Milan
href='http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118172685380033783.html?mod=us_business_whats_news'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
name='13'>TROUBLED COMPANIES IN THE NEWS
1000’s of companies lose
money or experience some form of difficulty each
quarter.
The business news
articles below are taken from the
size='3'>Daily Summary of Troubled & Fast Growing U.S. Companies and
Other Business News published by Bastien
Financial Publications.
To begin receiving the COMPLETE
Daily e-Summary, that emails you information on over 70 such companies
each morning, email
face='Times New Roman' color='#0000ff'
size='3'>steve@creditnews.com
size='3'>your name, company name, address, phone and fax.
We’ll set you up within 24 hours.
The
size='3'>ABI
is only $99 for an annual subscription.
size='3'>Indicate “
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>ABI
size='3'>CODE 27” in your email.
size='3'>AEP Industries Inc., a
size='3'>South Hackensack
size='3'>N.J.
of packaging film products, reported its second quarter net income
declined 66%–to more than $6.1 million. Revenue declined
3%–to $188 million.
size='3'>Aerosonic Corp., the
size='3'>Clearwater
firm which makes a broad range of mechanical aircraft instruments,
reported its first quarter net declined 89%–to $62,000, on a 20%
revenue decline–to $6.8 million.
size='3'>Cherokee International Corp.,
a
size='3'>Tustin, Ca. maker
of power supplies and rectifiers, reported a first quarter net loss of
$2 million. The results included restructuring charges of $193,000.
Revenue declined 17% –to $30 million.
size='3'>Ford Motor Co., the Dearborn, Mi.
firm which lost $12.5 billion last year, is reportedly trying to find
buyers for its Volvo, Jaguar and Land Rover automotive brands in Europe,
as it continues trying to turn around its operations in
America
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley to try to find buyers for
the European brands. Over the past eighteen years, Ford acquired Jaguar,
Volvo and Land Rover in three separate deals for a total of nearly $12
billion. Recently, the
w:st='on'>
size='3'>U.S.
size='3'>carmaker agreed to sell its prestigious Aston Martin unit to an
investor group for $848 million.
size='3'>IFC Credit Corp., a finance company
based in
size='3'>Morton Grove
the attorney general of
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Missouri
allegedly trying to collect more than $1 million in fraudulent debt from
small businesses and nonprofits.
size='3'>SteelCloud Inc., the Herndon,
size='3'>Va.
specializes in network security systems, reported a narrowed second
quarter net loss of $293,000, down from a $1.9 million loss reported for
the same period one year earlier. Revenue declined 27%–to
$4.8 million.
size='3'>Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.,
the
size='3'>Manhattan,
w:st='on'>
size='3'>N.Y.
videogames, presented a restructuring plan to slash costs by about $25
million a year by 2008. Take-Two will consolidate certain
management, marketing and other operations and realign certain
administrative functions. The restructuring will likely involve laying
off some of its 2,100 employees but Take-Two didn’t specify how
many. For its second quarter, Take-Two reported a loss of $51.2
million, including reorganization charges of $14.1 million. Sales fell
23%–to $205 million.
href='http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2098101,00.html'>