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Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc.’s Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, N.J., will survive as part of billionaire Carl Icahn’s empire under a bankruptcy restructuring plan approved yesterday by a federal judge, Bloomberg News reported. Trump Entertainment, which also owns the shuttered Trump Plaza, adds to Icahn’s gaming venues in the downtrodden seaside town, joining the Tropicana, which the investor acquired out of bankruptcy five years ago. “The Taj will remain open,” Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross said at a hearing. The decision by Gross brings to a close a bankruptcy during which Trump Entertainment found itself on the brink of liquidation multiple times. The company had threatened to close the Taj Mahal over disputes with its union. Trump Entertainment filed for bankruptcy Sept. 9 and shut the Plaza days later. It was one of four Atlantic City casinos that closed last year as the New Jersey gambling hub was battered by competition from surrounding states. Lenders controlled by Icahn provided Trump Entertainment $20 million in bankruptcy financing to help fund operations until the turnaround plan takes effect.

A U.S. bankruptcy judge yesterday ordered an independent examiner to investigate transactions by the operating unit of Caesars Entertainment Corp, which filed for chapter 11 this year, Reuters reported yesterday. Bankruptcy Judge Benjamin Goldgar directed the examiner to investigate "any apparent self-dealing or conflicts of interest involving the debtors or their affiliates." Creditors have alleged that the operating unit is unable to pay its debts because the parent company looted it for the benefit of its controlling private-equity backers, Apollo Global Management and TPG Capital Management. Court papers said that the examiner, to be appointed by the U.S. Trustee, will be tasked with analyzing the propriety of a number of intercompany deals that are at the heart of the bankruptcy of Caesars Entertainment Operating Co. As the operating company struggled to overhaul its operations prior to filing for bankruptcy, it transferred a number of its most valuable properties and casinos to affiliates of the parent company. Creditors have alleged that the moves were illegal efforts by the parent company to put the assets beyond the reach of creditors.

Managers of Waco-based Life Partners Holdings have been ousted, and a bankruptcy judge has called for the appointment of a chapter 11 trustee, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Trustee’s Office both sought the move. The SEC said that the bankrupt life-settlement firm’s management “lacks the judgment necessary to guide the company through the Chapter 11 process.” Bankruptcy Judge Russell Nelms held seven hearings beginning in February, culminating in an order on Tuesday directing the U.S. Trustee to select a chapter 11 trustee. Life Partners buys life-insurance policies for less than the death benefit and collects when the insured person dies. The company filed a chapter 11 petition on Jan. 20 to stop the SEC from having a receiver appointed in a suit in which the government won a $47 million judgment against the firm and two officers for faulty revenue recognition. Ruling in that case, U.S. District Judge James R. Nowlin called Life Partners CEO Brian Pardo a “repeat offender who shows no signs that he has learned his lesson.”

Australia’s IFM Investors has agreed to a $5.725 billion deal to operate the 157-mile toll road that runs across Indiana between the Ohio Turnpike and Chicago Skyway for the next 66 years, the Wall Street Journal reported today. “We see Indiana Toll Road as a critical component of the U.S. transport network and an asset that’s linked to U.S. GDP and CPI growth,” said Julio Garcia, IFM Investors’ head of infrastructure for North America. Garcia said that the deal would be about 43 percent debt-financed, and structured as investment-grade. Previously, the toll road was about 85 percent debt-financed in a “very aggressive financing structure that isn’t appropriate for the current environment,” he said. IFM is restricted from hiking toll rates beyond the concession’s so-called tolling mechanism, which ensures that any increases are closely tied to inflation. The 59-year-old road filed for bankruptcy last September after struggling for years with a heavy debt load and lower-than-expected traffic. A bankruptcy judge in October cleared ITR Concession Co., the operator of the toll road, to exit chapter 11 and to find a buyer to help the company pay off its debt.

A bankruptcy judge gave Aereo Inc. approval yesterday to finalize the sale of its technology and remaining assets to TiVo Inc. and other buyers, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. The company has said that it is disappointed in the outcome of the sale, which brought in less than $2 million to help pay back creditors of the defunct TV-streaming service. In a recent lawsuit, Aereo accused major broadcasters of chilling bidding on the company's assets. A long-running lawsuit with those same broadcasters led Aereo into bankruptcy. In June, Aereo effectively shut down following a landmark U.S. Supreme Court loss that found that Aereo violated copyright laws by allowing customers to stream broadcast TV without paying a royalty to broadcasters.

LightSquared Inc. got an offer from hedge fund Solus Alternative Asset Management LP to buy $500 million of a loan held by Dish Network Corp. Chairman Charles Ergen, who is opposing the bankrupt broadband wireless venture’s reorganization plan, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Solus, which earlier put forth a rival bankruptcy plan for LightSquared, said that it was encouraged instead to suggest improvements to the company’s own proposal, its fifth effort to exit court protection. The hedge fund said that it would pay Ergen in cash and invest another $89.5 million in LightSquared, taking 34.3 percent of its stock.

Aereo Inc., the online-TV service brought down by a U.S. Supreme Court copyright ruling, accused Walt Disney Co.’s ABC and other broadcasters of derailing the company’s bankruptcy auction in a bid to stifle competition, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Aereo on Feb. 24 sold its patents, hardware and other assets piecemeal for less than $2 million -- a fraction of what it sought -- after a key bidder backed out, the company said in a lawsuit filed on Monday bankruptcy court. The potential buyer, which Aereo didn’t name, was scared off by a suggestion by Disney and other broadcasters that it may be liable for Aereo’s past copyright violations, for which the group is seeking almost $95 million in damages.

Women’s dress and formalwear chain Cache officially kicked off going-out-of-business sales on Friday, and customers should act fast if they’re holding on to a gift card for the retailer, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. Cache said in a court filing on Friday that it plans to honor gift cards for 30 days, meaning they’ll be valid until April 5. The same goes for merchandise returns (only on clothing bought before the liquidation sales) and other promotions.

U.K. insurance company Towergate Finance PLC is seeking the aid of a U.S. bankruptcy court as it works through its financial troubles in the High Court of Justice of England and Wales, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Trouble with regulators and a streak of losses triggered concerns about the financial stability of the Towergate Group of insurance brokers last year. Negotiations with senior creditors have produced an agreed-upon restructuring plan, but Towergate fears that a dissenting investor could sue in the U.S., complicating its effort to put in place so-called schemes of arrangement in the U.K. To ward off the threat of a lawsuit in the U.S. from a dissenting investor, Towergate filed for chapter 15 protection on Friday in New York.

Businessman Donald Trump struck a deal to leave his name emblazoned on the facade of Atlantic City's Trump Taj Mahal casino, Reuters reported yesterday. Trump, who no longer controls the casino, sued in August to strip his name off the building, saying that it had become so rundown that it was damaging his brand image. The deal is with bankrupt Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc., which owns and operates the casino, and billionaire investor Carl Icahn, a major lender in the casino’s bankruptcy. The agreement, which must be approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware, calls for Trump Entertainment to pay Trump about $172,000 to satisfy an outstanding ground lease claim, among other things. Trump founded the Taj and Atlantic City's Trump Plaza. He lost control of them when they went bankrupt before, in 2009, but he retained a trademark license agreement that allowed them to keep using his name.