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Some owners of WeWork Inc.’s more than 700 properties are objecting to the company’s plans to shut down many of its locations in bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported. Objections filed yesterday pushed back on the company’s timeline for rejecting leases, and rules they say wrongly favor WeWork. For example, one landlord claims WeWork would retain the right to stay in a location, even after canceling a lease. The filings provide a fresh look at the delicate balance WeWork must strike as it seeks to renegotiate or shed onerous leases, a key part of its bankruptcy plan. It’s in talks with landlords for hundreds of properties about rent cuts and other concessions, and must be careful not to push so aggressively that landlords choose to walk away and seek new occupants. “WeWork is walking a fine line because it has to aggressively cut rent costs in order to reorganize successfully, but at the same time its future depends on maintaining healthy relationships with some of those same landlords if it hopes to strike new agreements with them after emerging from bankruptcy, ” said Evan DuFaux, a special situations analyst at the research firm CreditSights. “The case is likely to turn on the landlords’ strategy regarding renegotiation and rejection of leases.” Regulatory filings show that plans during bankruptcy discussions with creditors involved shuttering nearly half of its U.S. and Canadian locations. The company hasn’t shared new figures since filing for chapter 11, but said in a response to questions from Bloomberg that the disclosed numbers were “outdated” and didn’t reflect the “significant progress” made in talks since then.

Binance and its founder, Changpeng Zhao, pleaded guilty Tuesday to violating criminal anti-money-laundering guidelines — a staggering blow against the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, the Washington Post reported. The company will also pay a $4.3 billion fine, one of the largest ever levied against a corporation. The plea agreement marks the second time this month that a giant of the crypto world has been felled by federal charges. Zhao, who appeared Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Seattle, faces as much as 18 months in prison for violating the Bank Secrecy Act, according to sentencing guidelines. He will be fined $50 million and is barred from working with the exchange for three years, court filings show. Zhao also agreed to step down as chief executive of Binance. He will be replaced by Richard Teng, the company’s global head of regional markets.

Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has become the latest in a long line of crypto founders facing potentially significant legal consequences, Bloomberg News reported. The founder of Binance Holdings Ltd., the world’s largest crypto exchange, resigned from his post as CEO as part of a settlement agreement with U.S. prosecutors that includes the possibility of jail time. That makes him the newest member of a club that includes Sam Bankman-Fried of FTX, Alex Mashinsky of Celsius, and Do Kwon of Terraform Labs. Zhao, who founded Binance in 2017, developed a reputation for being a canny operator, a fierce competitor, and someone prone to saying things like “I don’t really care much about money” while amassing a fortune measured in the billions. Zhao’s resignation and his near-simultaneous replacement by Richard Teng, who built his reputation not in crypto but at Singapore’s central bank, is emblematic of the kind of shift in approach being pushed by regulators around the world. The landscape for digital assets appears to be shifting away from the “wild west” of crypto populated by risk-loving cowboys who seek forgiveness instead of permission, who publicly spar with the liquidators attempting to recover assets for their creditors, or who use stolen billions to lobby for policy changes.

An involuntary bankruptcy against Mexico’s TV Azteca has been dismissed, with a bankruptcy-court judge saying that the multimedia conglomerate and its bondholders are involved in a dispute that must play out in U.S. district court, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. TV Azteca had been sued over missed payments to bondholders in a case in district court, and then earlier this year an involuntary bankruptcy petition was filed by a group of bondholders in bankruptcy court. Arguing for dismissal of the bankruptcy petition in August, TV Azteca said the sides are in a bona fide dispute, making the involuntary filing improper. It also said the involuntary petition was filed as a tactical maneuver related to a matter pending in another court, and that the U.S. involuntary bankruptcy would hurt the company. To the extent that an in-court reorganization should occur, it should happen in Mexico, TV Azteca said. In Monday’s ruling, Judge Lisa Beckerman said that TV Azteca’s motion to dismiss points to “the district court action as the evidence that the petitioning creditors’ claims are subject to a bona fide dispute.” “The parties specifically agreed in the indenture to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in the Borough of Manhattan with respect to any disputes regarding the notes and the indenture,” the ruling said. The fight stems from $400 million in unsecured bonds that TV Azteca issued in 2017. Beginning in early 2021, it missed several interest payments, primarily blaming the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, certain investors including Contrarian Capital, Invesco and the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio said the bonds were in default and demanded that interest and principal on the 2024 notes be paid in full.

The U.S. Justice Department is seeking more than $4 billion from Binance Holdings Ltd. as part of a proposed resolution of a years-long investigation into the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Bloomberg News reported. Negotiations between the Justice Department and Binance include the possibility that its founder Changpeng Zhao would face criminal charges in the US under an agreement to resolve the probe into alleged money laundering, bank fraud and sanctions violations. Zhao, also known as “CZ,” is residing in the United Arab Emirates, which doesn’t have an extradition treaty with the U.S., but that doesn’t prevent him from coming voluntarily. The BNB cryptocurrency, a token native to Binance and the BNB Chain blockchain that was created by the exchange, rose as much as 8.5% to $266.42 after Bloomberg reported the negotiations.

Johnson & Johnson said on Thursday that it has settled two lawsuits claiming its talc products caused cancer, the first such cases to go to trial since a federal court rejected the company's plan to move its talc liabilities into bankruptcy court, Reuters reported. The settlements resolved lawsuits brought by two men, Rosalino Reyes and Marlin Eagles, who said they developed mesothelioma related to asbestos in J&J talc powder, and was part of a broader deal to settle all talc cases brought by the law firm representing them, Kazan, McClain, Satterley & Greenwood, the company said. Reyes' family continued his lawsuit after he died in 2020. The company faces more than 50,000 lawsuits over talc, most by women with ovarian cancer. It has said that its talc products are safe and do not contain asbestos. J&J and the plaintiffs' lawyers did not disclose any terms of the settlement, or how many cases it covered. Reyes' trial had begun last week, while Eagles' was about to begin, with a jury chosen. "The Eagles and the Reyes families express thanks to the jurors and courtroom personnel who participated in the trial," Joseph Satterley and Denyse Clancy, attorneys for the plaintiffs, said in a joint statement.
https://www.reuters.com/legal/jj-settles-first-talc-cases-go-trial-afte….

Brigade Capital Management, Capital Research and Management Co. and Sculptor Capital are among now-bankrupt WeWork Inc.’s biggest creditors, court papers show, Bloomberg News reported. The firms are part of a group of seven asset managers and hedge funds that have banded together to negotiate with the the failed co-working firm. Together, they hold more than $1.1 billion of WeWork’s secured notes, according to a Thursday bankruptcy court disclosure. Other members include King Street Capital Management, Aristeia Capital, Silver Point Capital and BlackRock Financial Management, Inc., according to the court filing. By joining forces and sharing the cost of attorneys, such groups can hold significant sway in major corporate bankruptcies. Hashing out deals can take months, which can quickly rack up big professional fees.