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The abrupt closure and bankruptcy filing by a U.S. adoption agency has stunned hundreds of hopeful clients left struggling with the emotional impact and likely loss of thousands of dollars, Reuters reported yesterday. The non-profit Independent Adoption Center of Concord, Calif., closed on Jan. 31 and filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy on Feb. 3. Clients said as many as 800 families may be affected, although the agency has not provided figures. In a statement, the agency blamed fewer potential birth parents than at any point in its 35-year history. Independent Adoption Center's board president, Gregory Kuhl, acknowledged in court papers the hard feelings sparked by the agency's closure, and said families and birth mothers are getting potential referrals.

Opponents of Peabody Energy Corp's reorganization plan have filed an emergency appeal against a key piece of the coal producer's proposal they say violates U.S. bankruptcy law by prematurely requiring creditors to promise to support it, Reuters reported yesterday. At the heart of creditors' complaints are the terms of a $1.5 billion private recapitalization that Peabody has proposed as part of a plan to slash $5 billion of debt and exit chapter 11 protection. The plan by the world's largest private-sector coal company could provide lucrative returns for early subscribers. In order to sign up for the private offering, creditors had to support Peabody's broader reorganization plan, a complex and lengthy document, within days of its publication on Dec. 22 and almost a month before it went to bankruptcy court for approval. Bankruptcy Judge Barry Schermer approved the plan on Jan. 26, overruling objections from a range of parties and opening the door for Peabody to officially begin seeking creditor votes. In a filing with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on Friday, an ad hoc committee of dissenting creditors said Peabody "improperly" forced the majority of creditors to commit their votes in favor of the plan well before it received court approval.

A federal judge has discharged rapper 50 Cent's bankruptcy case after he paid more than $22 million, the Associated Press reported yesterday. Bankruptcy Judge Ann Nevins approved the discharge Thursday in Hartford, Connecticut. The rapper who burst onto the music scene in 2003 with his debut album, "Get Rich or Die Tryin," filed for chapter 11 reorganization in 2015, citing debts of $36 million and assets of less than $20 million. Nevins approved a plan in July calling for 50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis Jackson III, to pay back about $23 million. Jackson's lawyers said yesterday that he paid off the five-year plan early with $8.7 million of his own money and $13.65 million he received in a recent settlement of a legal malpractice lawsuit against other attorneys.

Bernard Madoff's victims will soon recoup another $252 million from the trustee unwinding the swindler's firm, boosting their total recovery to $9.72 billion, Reuters reported. The latest payout by trustee Irving Picard was made possible by settlements in the second half of 2016 with people accused either of facilitating Madoff's fraud or withdrawing more money from his firm than they deserved. This included money from a settlement with the family of Stanley Chais, who prior to his 2010 death managed money for Hollywood clients like director Steven Spielberg, and was accused by Picard of excess withdrawals. Picard's eighth distribution started yesterday and will go to customers who once had 953 accounts at Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. Checks will range from $271.80 to about $42.3 million.

Duro is one of at least three of Lynn Tilton’s Patriarch-managed companies to abruptly close in 2016, together costing around 2,000 jobs, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. Tilton’s empire that year was roiled by a flurry of lawsuits, as well as civil-fraud allegations leveled by the Securities and Exchange Commission. In a statement, a Patriarch representative said that the companies it manages are often in financial distress. “Given the substantial obstacles that many of these companies face, not all of them can be saved,” the firm said. The size of Tilton’s operation isn’t clear. In 2015, Patriarch counted 74 companies in its portfolio, according to a press release. On the witness stand in a Delaware court in August, Tilton said that she believed there were about 50 Patriarch-run businesses still in operation. In a television interview last week, she put the number at more than 60. Patriarch declined to explain the discrepancy or discuss individual businesses.