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Oi Shareholder Calls for Vote to Take Action Against CEO, CFO

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Oi SA’s largest equity investor called for a shareholders meeting to decide whether to take legal action against the chief executive officer and the chief financial officer and to scrutinize parts of the Brazilian phone company’s restructuring plan, Bloomberg News reported. CEO Eurico Teles and CFO Carlos Brandao exceeded their authority by negotiating the plan with creditors without the board’s approval, and investors should decide whether to file a civil liability claim against them, Pharol SGPS SA said in a letter published on Friday in a filing. The bankruptcy court overseeing Oi’s restructuring gave Teles full authority to negotiate with creditors without requiring the board’s approval, but that hasn’t stopped the shareholders from threatening legal action to keep the deal from going forward. The plan’s installment of new board members and a capital increase also require shareholders’ approval, said Pharol, a publicly traded holding company based in Lisbon, Portugal.

Woodbridge Creditors Seek Trustee for Troubled Real-Estate Company

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Creditors of Woodbridge Group, the real-estate developer at the center of an alleged $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme, have moved to oust the turnaround management team selected by former chief executive Robert Shapiro, who is accused of masterminding the alleged fraud, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. In an emergency court filing on Thursday, the official committee representing thousands of individual investors caught up in the alleged Woodbridge fraud called on a bankruptcy judge to put the company’s affairs in the hands of a trustee. Regardless of the fraud allegations, Woodbridge owns a portfolio of high-end real estate, creditors contend. With professional tending, the properties can generate cash for thousands of small investors who otherwise face financial hardship, their lawyers say.

Lynn Tilton Beats $1 Billion Zohar Racketeering Suit

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A New York federal judge absolved financier Lynn Tilton of a $1 billion racketeering lawsuit brought by managers of the Zohar investment funds who want her ousted from some troubled companies she has been running, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The Friday ruling by U.S. District Judge William H. Pauley III in New York dispensed with part of a legal campaign being waged by the Zohar collateralized loan obligation funds and their manager Alvarez & Marsal against Tilton, their founder. The funds, dubbed Zohar I, II and III, accused Tilton of pillaging money from their investors and the underlying portfolio of distressed companies under her control. The judge’s decision found those allegations to be outside the scope of federal racketeering law, which he said doesn’t allow for claims surrounding the purchase or sale of securities.

Indiana Power Utility Seeks Part of Bankrupt Sports Complex’s Property

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An Indiana power utility is asking a bankruptcy court to allow it to continue to try to forcefully take over a piece of a sports complex’s property after it rejected eminent domain payments, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The unfinished 170-acre Catalyst Lifestyles Sport Resort LLC was on the verge of being sold at a foreclosure auction when it filed for bankruptcy in October. Northern Indiana Public Service Co. has been seeking access to some of the Catalyst land to start upgrading 29.5 miles of underground natural gas lines, a project that the utility said would provide safer and more reliable power. The gas company said it hired an accounting firm to do an appraisal and then offered $39,500 to Catalyst last July to get access. But Catalyst wasn’t interested in the offer, prompting Northern Indiana Public Service to try to condemn part of the Portage, Ind., property through a complaint filed in Indiana state court last September. A hearing on that case is scheduled for February.

Harbinger Capital Sues Apollo Global Management Over LightSquared Losses

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Philip Falcone’s hedge fund said it was defrauded by Apollo Global Management LLC into pouring $2 billion into the ill-fated wireless venture formerly known as LightSquared Inc., WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Falcone’s Harbinger Capital Partners filed a lawsuit in New York state court on Thursday accusing Apollo of concealing flaws in a planned telecommunications network that ran into regulatory roadblocks years later, driving LightSquared into a costly bankruptcy. In the lawsuit, Harbinger claimed to have found evidence from U.S. patent archives showing that Apollo’s directors “knew, or were reckless in not knowing” about a set of 2001 test results casting doubt on the wireless network technology.

Creditors Seek Bankruptcy for U.S. Media Entrepreneur Sillerman

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Creditors of American media entrepreneur Robert F.X. Sillerman are seeking to force the onetime billionaire into bankruptcy to try and collect on a $7.36 million judgment against him, according to court documents, Reuters reported. Two Chicago-based concert promoters yesterday filed an involuntary chapter 7 bankruptcy petition against Sillerman in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. They are seeking to collect a judgment they won last month against Sillerman over a promissory note he guaranteed on behalf of SFX Entertainment Inc. Sillerman founded the company in 2012 to promote electronic dance music festivals, and in 2014 acquired React Presents Inc. and Clubtix Inc. from Jeffrey Callahan and Lucas King. Part of the payment for the deal was in the form of a $10 million promissory note. SFX Entertainment acquired festivals such as TomorrowWorld but had trouble bringing them together in one corporate family and filed for bankruptcy in February 2016. A month later, King and Callahan and the their two companies sued Sillerman in Chicago federal court to collect on the promissory note.

Bahamas Developer Claims Huge Chinese Fraud at $3.9 Billion Resort

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China Construction America Inc. was accused in a lawsuit of ripping off the original developer of the long-delayed $3.9 billion Baha Mar resort in the Bahamas by submitting fraudulent bills and collecting undeserved fees, Bloomberg News reported. BML Properties Ltd., led by wealthy Bahamas businessman Sarkis Izmirlian, sued CCA Tuesday claiming the state-owned Chinese contractor pulled off a “massive fraud” to enrich itself at BML’s expense, leading to the collapse of the project in 2015. Delays in the construction of the biggest and most expensive resort to be built in the Caribbean have been a drag on the Bahamian economy in recent years. BML claims that CCA submitted hundreds of millions of dollars in fake bills, understaffed the project and used it as a training ground for inexperienced workers. CCA knew it wouldn’t be able to meet the planned December 2014 deadline to open the resort but created the appearance that it would, in order to remain on the project and collect undeserved fees, BML claims. BML is seeking at least $2.25 billion in damages. BML filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware in 2015. A U.S. bankruptcy judge dismissed the case in favor of a Bahamian court.

Cyber Insurer to Cover Bankrupt Cancer Clinic's $2.3 Million HIPAA Fine

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Federal regulators are allowing cyber insurer Beazley Group to cover a $2.3 million HIPAA fine on behalf of its bankrupt client, 21st Century Oncology, according to Healthcare Info Security. Earlier this month, the Fort Myers, Fla.-based company agreed to pay HHS' Office for Civil Rights (OCR) a $2.3 million settlement to resolve issues related to a 2015 data breach that affected 2.2 million patient records. Separately, it reached a $26 million settlement, resolving false claims allegations and a self-disclosure that it submitted false attestations regarding the use of EHR software. However, in May, 21st Century Oncology filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. OCR has repeatedly said that it doesn't wish to put organizations out of business when issuing these fines, but privacy attorney Adam Greene of law firm Davis Wright Tremaine, who was not involved in the case, told Healthcare Info Security that "when things might be tough financially, OCR clearly still expects the organization to put significant resources into privacy and security."