A bankruptcy judge ruled that distressed company manager Lynn Tilton must continue to support efforts to find buyers for troubled companies that owe money to her bankrupt Zohar investment funds, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The ruling from Bankruptcy Judge Karen Owens was a blow to Tilton, who argued unsuccessfully that her duty to try to sell those companies ends when a temporary legal settlement with Zohar creditors terminates. A lawyer for Tilton said that she would appeal. The peace pact will expire soon, Judge Owens said at a hearing Friday. The ruling marked the latest in a long series of legal contests involving Tilton’s distressed investing empire. She founded the Zohar funds to raise money from investors to lend to a collection of troubled businesses. The Zohar funds are trying to collect $1.8 billion they owe those investors. But sales of two of companies linked to Tilton brought in less than $150 million — well short of what was needed to extend a standstill agreement between her and her Patriarch Partners management firm on the one hand and the Zohar funds on the other.
