Top Sports Authority executives are back with demands for up to $1.5 million in bonuses to wrap up the final stages of a bankruptcy that closed hundreds of stores and cost thousands of jobs, the Wall Street Journal reported today. U.S. Trustee Andrew Vara is back, too, with a protest similar to the objection that scuttled Sports Authority’s original bonus proposal. The defunct retailer is “prioritizing insider executives above all other parties in interest, including unsecured creditors and the thousands of employees who have already lost their jobs,” Vara said. The revised bonus program for the failed Englewood, Colo., retailer and the renewed objection from Vara set the stage for round two of a battle over bonuses for top insiders in bankruptcy. Earlier this month, Judge Mary Walrath refused to sign off on a bonus package that meant up to $2.85 million in enhanced pay for four top executives, whom Sports Authority declined to name.
