A Justice Department bankruptcy monitor is again scrutinizing Centerview Partners LLC, this time over the investment bank’s request to keep two of its clients confidential while it works for a coal mining company in chapter 11, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Acting U.S. Trustee Andrew R. Vara on Wednesday objected to Centerview’s request to keep the clients’ names from public view during the bankruptcy of Cloud Peak Energy Inc. Centerview is asking a judge to approve its retention as an adviser to Cloud Peak. The government challenge comes amid heightened scrutiny by the U.S. Trustee Program of the disclosures bankruptcy advisers make to do chapter 11 work. “Although Centerview may have private confidentiality agreements, they do not supersede the ethics and disclosure requirements of the Bankruptcy Code and Rules,” Vara said in Wednesday’s objection. In January, a U.S. Trustee in New York took issue with “incomplete” disclosures by Centerview as it sought to be retained as a financial adviser to Synergy Pharmaceuticals Inc. A bankruptcy judge later approved Centerview’s retention after the firm made additional disclosures.
