%1

Bankruptcy Judge Ann M. Nevins yesterday approved the chapter 11 reorganization plan for hip-hop mogul and businessman 50 Cent, the Hartford Courant reported today. The effective date of the plan will be 15 days from the time formal approval is entered into the record by Judge Nevins. On the effective date, 50 Cent will make a $7.4 million payment to begin the process. The rapper, whose real name is Curtis James Jackson III, lives in Farmington, Conn. Jackson filed for bankruptcy last July after losing a privacy lawsuit in state court in New York to Lastonia Leviston. Jackson posted on his website a sex tape featuring Leviston and another rapper, and a jury awarded her $7 million. Around the same time, Jackson also was ordered to pay a massive arbitration award in connection with a deal to produce headphones that went sour. Read more. 

Don’t miss the “Practicing in the Limelight: The Challenges Faced in Cases Involving High-Profile Debtors” session at ABI’s 11th Annual Northeast Consumer Forum on July 14-16! 

Total commercial filings during the first six months of the year (Jan. 1-June 30) increased 29 percent to 19,470 over the 15,071 total commercial filings during the same period in 2015, according to data provided by Epiq Systems, Inc. Commercial chapter 11 filings also climbed during the first half of 2016 as the 3,220 filings represented a 25 percent increase over the 2,575 commercial chapter 11 filings during the first six months of 2015. Total bankruptcy filings, however, fell to 398,495 during the first six months of 2016, representing a 6 percent decrease from the 422,914 total filings during the same period a year ago. The 379,025 total noncommercial filings for the first half of 2016 represented a 7 percent drop from the noncommercial filing total of 407,843 for the first half of 2015. “As economic challenges continue to weigh on the balance sheets of struggling companies, especially those in energy and retail, more businesses are seeking the financial fresh start of bankruptcy,” said ABI Executive Director Samuel J. Gerdano. “Commercial bankruptcy filings for 2016 will likely total close to 40,000.” Read ABI’s press release.

Duke University basketball legend Christian Laettner faces bankruptcy after several creditors collectively owed $14 million filed an involuntary chapter 7 petition against him last week, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The nature of Laettner’s debts weren’t described in the eight-page petition filed on Tuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Durham, N.C. A 2012 story in the Wall Street Journal noted that Laettner and his business partner in several real estate deals faced civil lawsuits seeking repayment of loans valued at about $30 million, including to sports celebrities such as former Chicago Bull Scottie Pippen, who played with Laettner on the 1992 Olympic men’s basketball team. Under bankruptcy-court rules, Laettner has 21 days to respond to the involuntary petition. His lawyer, Hassan Zavareei, said that the involuntary bankruptcy is related to the West Village real estate development in Durham, N.C., a downtown project that dwindled during the economic recession. The involuntary petition stems from two creditors who are fighting to recover money from the project and that Laettner plans to negotiate a deal that will lead the chapter 7 filing to be dismissed, he said.