A lawyer who made his name as a Watergate prosecutor was approved yesterday to begin investigating a series of corporate deals in the lead-up to the bankruptcy of the casino operating unit of Caesars Entertainment Corp., Reuters reported yesterday. Creditors allege those deals looted billions of dollars from the operator of 38 casinos for the benefit of the parent company, which is not bankrupt, and its private equity backers, Apollo Global Management and TPG Capital. Richard Davis, a former partner at bankruptcy powerhouse Weil Gotshal & Manges, will investigative whether the operating unit received fair value for choice properties such as the Linq complex in Las Vegas. Davis was given a wide-ranging role by the judge who tasked him with investigating any apparent conflicts of interest by the bankrupt unit.
