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A Charlotte-based construction company has filed for liquidation as it faces $11.4 million in total liabilities, the Charlotte Business Journal reported. Arbor Construction LLC last week filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy in North Carolina, bankruptcy court records show. The company reports its liabilities surpass its total assets of $11.1 million. It has between 200 and 999 creditors. Arbor Construction focuses on homebuilding and remodeling, according to its LinkedIn page. The company's assets include $10.8 million in real property. That includes sites throughout the Charlotte region in Waxhaw, Lancaster, Indian Land and Fort Lawn, bankruptcy court records state.

Bankruptcy Judge Jerrold Poslusny yesterday approved the Diocese of Camden's chapter 11 bankruptcy plan, allowing the New Jersey diocese to move ahead with a $87.5 million settlement of sex abuse lawsuits, Reuters reported. The diocese initially had agreed to settle with about 300 sex abuse victims in April 2022, but the deal had been held up in bankruptcy court over objections raised by the diocese's insurers. Judge Poslusny said at hearing yesterday that recent changes to the deal had resolved all of the insurance-related issues. The bankruptcy settlement was supported by more than 97% of the abuse claimants who voted on it. Bishop Dennis Sullivan said yesterday that the approval would allow the diocese to move on from a "painful" three-year bankruptcy restructuring and "provide substantial reparations to survivors harmed by sinful priests dating back more than six decades." Insurers had argued that the bankruptcy plan would create a settlement trust that was "biased" against insurers and could allow for the payment of inflated, invalid or fraudulent claims, in addition to excessive attorneys' fees. Judge Poslusny initially agreed with the insurers and rejected an earlier version of the settlement. But he said that the revised plan gave insurers the ability to defend themselves in court if the settlement trust tried to sue them for coverage without fulfilling its obligations under the diocese's insurance policies. Those obligations may include payment of the initial legal defense costs before insurance coverage kicks in, as well as requirements to cooperate with insurers to defend against claims, Judge Poslusny said.

The Diocese of Buffalo in New York has announced the sale of its headquarters in downtown Buffalo nearly four years after it declared bankruptcy amid hundreds of sexual abuse lawsuits filed against it, CatholicNewsAgency.com reported. The diocese announced in Western New York Catholic this week that “​​the Catholic Center, the diocesan central office building since 1986, has been listed for sale” for $9.8 million. In 2020, the diocese formally filed for chapter 11 protection. At the time the diocese said it was acting to provide the most compensation for victims of clergy sex abuse while continuing the day-to-day work of its Catholic mission. Diocesan officials announced in October of last year that the diocese would be putting forth $100 million to settle the numerous abuse claims lodged against it.

A podcast production company that was accused by comedian Theo Von and others of owing content creators millions of dollars has filed bankruptcy in California, Bloomberg News reported. Kast Media Inc., which historically produced and placed ads in shows, filed a type of chapter 11 for small businesses. It had nearly $700,000 in total assets and more than $6.3 million in total liabilities as of Jan. 31, according to a balance sheet Kast included in the Wednesday filing. Multiple podcasters last year accused Kast and its chief executive officer Colin Thomson of falling behind on payments to shows the company worked with. In a Youtube video with more than 1.7 million views, Von said Kast owes various podcasters more than $4 million in back pay. Kast owes Von’s company $456,398, according to the bankruptcy petition, which is signed by Thomson. The company also listed other debt that it described as being related to podcast content, subscription services and legal services.

A pair of Iowa developers has filed for bankruptcy in federal court, leaving uncertain the future of homes and properties in three states — including some under construction in the Des Moines metro, the Des Moines Register reported. Court records show creditors are owed millions of dollars, including for luxury vehicle purchases. Jeffrey and Tina Ewing, husband and wife developers from Pella, filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in federal court on March 5. Their Vintage Cooperatives real estate business operates homes and independent living communities for people who are 55 years old and older in Iowa, including in Altoona, Ames, Ankeny, Bettendorf, Coralville, Des Moines, Indianola, Iowa City, Johnston and Pella. It also has communities under construction or planned in Cedar Rapids, Dubuque, Iowa City, North Liberty and Waukee, as well as Columbia and Liberty, Missouri, and Sioux Falls, South Dakota. At least five homes have been sold at the development in Waukee, under construction now. It's unclear how the bankruptcy proceedings may affect those homeowners, though the Ewings' lawyer told the Des Moines Register there's a plan in place to address the issue. The Ewings' other real estate businesses and holdings include Ewing Land Development and Services LLC and Harvest Investments LLC.

New York Community Bancorp has sold some loans for gains and was working to integrate collapsed lender, Signature Bank, into its financial reporting process, it said in its annual report yesterday, Reuters reported. Its first quarter will include the sale of consumer loans worth $899 million on March 13 and a commercial co-operative loan in late February as the lender works to cut exposure to the beleaguered commercial real estate (CRE) sector. Several Wall Street analysts have flagged concerns that the turnaround could take a long time as profit remains under pressure from its efforts to boost reserves for potential bad loans. NYCB had earlier this month said that it was getting interest from non-bank bidders for some of its loans and would outline a new business plan in April while once again cutting its dividend and disclosing a 7% drop in deposits. The lender also named Joseph Otting, former Comptroller of the Currency in the Trump administration, as CEO as part of a $1 billion capital injection from a group of investors that included former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

Indian tech firm Think & Learn Pvt must freeze $533 million in order to protect the money for disgruntled lenders who claim the cash should only be used to pay them, a U.S. judge said yesterday, Bloomberg News reported. The decision by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge John Dorsey was a mixed victory for lenders. They earlier demanded the money be placed under the control of the federal court to prevent the cash from being spent by the Indian education-tech firm, which operates under the name Byju’s. Dorsey’s order was aimed at Riju Ravindran, one of the company’s directors and the brother of founder Byju Raveendran. Ravindran was also ordered to help solve one of the central mysteries of the court dispute: where the money is located. “I do not believe him when he says he cannot” learn the location from Think & Learn, Judge Dorsey said. Lenders had previously seized control of a holding company set up by Think & Learn to issue $1.2 billion in debt. That unit, Byju’s Alpha, is now in bankruptcy under Judge Dorsey’s oversight.

An Illinois trucking company with 183 trucks and 171 drivers recently filed for chapter 11 protection, Freight Waves reported. Founded in June 2010, Nationwide Cargo Inc. of East Dundee, Illinois, hauls general freight, fresh produce and meat, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s SAFER website. The petition, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on Wednesday, lists Hristo Angelov as the president of Nationwide Cargo. No reason was given as to why the carrier filed for bankruptcy protection, but it seeks to reorganize, according to the petition. Nationwide Cargo lists its assets as between $1 million and $10 million and its liabilities as between $10 million and $50 million. The petition lists the number of creditors as up to 49 but states that funds will not be available for unsecured creditors once it pays administrative fees.

The presiding judge in the bankruptcy case involving Reverse Mortgage Investment Trust (RMIT) — the parent company of former leading reverse mortgage lender Reverse Mortgage Funding (RMF) — has approved a request to transfer the company’s bankruptcy status to chapter 7 from its current chapter 11 status, HousingWire.com reported. The move allows the RMIT estate to sell off its remaining assets to satisfy creditor claims. It can also provide an additional mechanism for resolving disputes while reducing the administrative costs the estate would need to continue paying under chapter 11. In the original request, the RMIT plan administrator explained that conversion to chapter 7 was being sought to preserve the value of the estate’s remaining assets and ease the overall liquidation process. “The Plan Administrator hopes that by converting this case, instead of seeking dismissal or simply resigning, that the estate will be able to preserve value of any potential recovery from the TCB dispute or other litigation for the benefit of all unsecured creditors,” the January filing explained. “Absent conversion and the installation of a chapter 7 trustee, this value could be significantly eroded, if not entirely eliminated.” Presiding Judge Mary Walrath of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware found that the request was “due and sufficient under the circumstances.” The conversion will be effective anywhere from five to 10 business days after the entry of the March 12 order, according to the court filing.

The Justice Department’s U.S. Trustee Program (USTP) recently prevented the payment of bonuses to an executive of three small businesses that had stopped operating and already had sold their assets in bankruptcy, according to a DOJ press release. Aviation Safety Resources and its two debtor affiliates, which filed for bankruptcy under subchapter V of chapter 11, argued that $30,000 in bonuses were designed to incentivize the companies’ president to avoid leaving for other employment and to facilitate a sale of the debtors’ assets. The U.S. Trustee’s Orlando office objected to the bonuses as a “key employee retention plan,” commonly known as a KERP, which is impermissible under the Bankruptcy Code for insiders unless the proponent can satisfy stringent standards. Among other things, the USTP argued that the bonuses were not incentivizing because they were not tied to any performance-based metrics and that the debtors had already closed on the sale of nearly all their assets three days before filing a motion to approve the bonuses. On February 2, after a half-day trial, the Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida sustained the U.S. Trustee’s objection and denied the debtors’ KERP motion.