With international professional fees for Nortel Networks Corp.'s bankruptcy topping $900 million and a multibillion-dollar court fight heating up, a U.S. judge has enlisted outside help to keep an eye on those bills, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross appointed accounting firm Master, Sidlow & Associates P.A. "to act as special consultant to the court" in looking over the bills coming in from dozens of law firms and other advisers working on Nortel's chapter 11 case. The appointment of a fee examiner comes midway through the fifth year of the massive international bankruptcy of Nortel, which was once a telecommunications giant and the pride of Canada's technology industry. Now, Nortel is a corporate shell without operations, ringed by bankruptcy professionals who are preparing for a court clash next year over $7.3 billion raised in the sale of the company's businesses and patents.
