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Jilted Lottery Winner Files for Bankruptcy in Florida

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A Florida woman has filed for bankruptcy after losing a large chunk of a $1 million lottery jackpot to her boyfriend who sued her for failing to share, the Associated Press reported yesterday. The Orlando Sentinel reports that Lynn Anne Poirier didn't list former boyfriend Howard Browning as a creditor in the case filed on Saturday. She listed the case against Browning as "pending." Last month, a Seminole County jury ordered her to pay Browning $291,000 after deciding that the couple had a valid but unwritten contract to split any large lottery jackpot. Browning's attorney Sean Sheppard asked a judge last week to tack on more than $150,000, claiming interest due from the 2007 jackpot. Poirier took a one-time lump sum $750,000 payment and claimed in court there wasn't an agreement to split the jackpot.

Court Again Dismisses Creditors' Case from Tribune Co. Bankruptcy

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A U.S. appeals court dismissed a closely watched creditor lawsuit yesterday that stemmed from the 2008 bankruptcy of Tribune Co., a day after it took the unusual step of withdrawing a nearly identical opinion because it had been published in error, Reuters reported yesterday. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit had ruled on Thursday that Tribune creditors could not claw back $8 billion paid to public shareholders nearly a decade ago in a buyout that was blamed for its bankruptcy. On Monday, the court issued a two-sentence order saying the opinion was published by mistake, and took the rare step of clawing back its clawback ruling. Yesterday’s opinion came to the same conclusion as the withdrawn ruling, and ran the same 53 pages. A side-by-side comparison revealed about five tweaks, such as replacing "transferred to" with "assumed by" in describing the arcane procedures for determining ownership of certain legal claims. The opinion also changed a "with" to a "without" in a comment attributed to a former securities regulator.

Involuntary Bankruptcy Against Aman Resorts’ Ex-Owner Dismissed

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A bankruptcy judge on Monday dismissed the involuntary chapter 11 filing against Aman Resorts Group Ltd., the former owner of a lavish hotel chain favored by celebrities, Dow Jones Newswires reported today. Bankruptcy Judge Shelley Chapman yesterday granted the now-defunct shell company's request to dismiss the case. However, the judge was quick to add that she wanted a federal bankruptcy watchdog to work with all the lawyers involved "to get to the bottom" of the perplexing filing. In 2014, Russian billionaire Vladislav Doronin and U.S. venture capitalist Omar Amanat teamed up to buy Aman Resorts, the operator of some of the most exclusive hotels around the world with high-profile guests that have included Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Princess Diana and David Beckham. Soon after the acquisition, the relationship between the two business partners soured, with Mr. Amanat claiming Doronin illegally seized his shares and transferred them to another company. Doronin, however, says the shares were properly transferred as part of a restructuring of the hotel chain that left him with full control. A judge in London agreed earlier this month, and Doronin said that Aman Resorts Group Ltd. was simply an empty shell with no assets and with no connection to the hotel chain, now operating as Aman Hotel Co.

Molycorp, Oaktree Come to Terms With Bondholders in Bankruptcy

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Bondholders that have been at odds with rare-earths company Molycorp have agreed to a settlement that could ease approval of the company’s chapter 11 turnaround plan, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Molycorp, which filed for bankruptcy protection after the dive in prices for its products, is slated to emerge largely the property of Oaktree Capital Management, a secured lender that has been battling bondholders for control of the distressed business. A settlement unveiled on Friday recognizes the bondholders as the winning bidders on mineral rights at Molycorp’s mothballed Mountain Pass, Calif., mining facility, the sole U.S. source of elements used in consumer electronics. The ultimate fate of Mountain Pass won't be decided this week, when Molycorp asks a judge to sign off on its chapter 11 exit plan. Bondholders are trying to buy some of the assets but not the mine itself.

Lehman to Pay Out Additional $1.6 Billion to Creditors

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The team winding down Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. said Thursday it would be paying $1.6 billion to creditors next week, more than seven-and-a-half years after the investment bank’s collapse triggered the financial crisis, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. The payout, the ninth since the investment failed, will bring the total payout in the firm’s bankruptcy to approximately $106.9 billion. The bulk of the cash — $78.5 billion — has gone to pay third-party, or non-Lehman claims. Most the latest payout, some $1.3 billion, is also earmarked for non-Lehman creditors and is slated to be made March 31.

Bankruptcy Judge Blocks Litigation over Sabine, Forest Merger

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A bankruptcy judge on Thursday handed Sabine Oil & Gas Corp. a decisive victory over its creditors, blocking their bid to step into the company's shoes to sue over its failed merger with Forest Oil Corp., Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Junior creditors who alleged the merger was engineered to shortchange them failed to show that many of their potential claims against Sabine and others have a reasonable chance of success at trial, Bankruptcy Judge Shelley Chapman said junior creditors ruled. For other claims, which were deemed plausible, the judge said that the costs of the litigation would outweigh any benefits.

Court Bars Tribune Co. Creditors from Unwinding 2007 Buyout

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A U.S. Appeals Court has ruled that creditors of the Tribune Company cannot claw back the $8 billion paid to the multimedia company's public shareholders nearly a decade ago in a buyout that was blamed for its bankruptcy, Reuters reported yesterday. The ruling stems from the sprawl of litigation sparked by the 2007 buyout led by real estate mogul Sam Zell. A little over a year later, the publisher of the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times filed for bankruptcy. Tribune emerged from bankruptcy in 2012 and junior creditors were repaid about a third of what they were owed. However, in a bid to recover more, they have spent years battling through the courts, using sometimes novel legal theories. In 2007, Tribune borrowed $11 billion and then used the money to buy its publicly traded stock and take the company private. Under the creditors' view, borrowing the money rendered Tribune insolvent and public shareholders received more than reasonable value for their stock; therefore, some of that money could be potentially clawed back as a fraudulent conveyance. The U.S. Appeals Court for the Second Circuit in New York, however, found the buyout was protected by the Bankruptcy Code's "safe harbor."