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Supreme Court Grants More Time for Appeal of Case Challenging Leveraged-Loan Market

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A bankruptcy trustee in a court case with the power to upend the roughly $1.4 trillion leveraged loan market plans to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the case after losing an appeal in August, Bloomberg News reported. The Supreme Court gave the trustee, Marc Kirschner, until Dec. 19 to seek review, according to the high court’s online docket. The Court earlier this month extended Kirschner’s deadline after he requested the extra time, citing, among other factors, the hiring of new legal counsel, law firm MoloLamken. The appeal would follow a widely watched ruling won by JPMorgan Chase & Co. and other banks in late August by the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals, which said that a $1.8 billion leveraged loan taken out by drug-testing company Millennium Health was not a security, effectively affirming the status quo. Leveraged loans have traditionally been excluded from securities laws, but in recent years the lines between between the loan and junk bond markets have become increasingly blurred. Plaintiffs in this lawsuit argued that loans should be subject to the same rules as securities like bonds.

Long Island Diocese Proposes $200 Million Settlement of Sex Abuse Claims

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The Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre, N.Y., has proposed a revised $200 million settlement of sex abuse claims, but faced immediate pushback on Tuesday from a U.S. bankruptcy judge who demanded more detailed financial information from the bankrupt Long Island diocese, Reuters reported. The diocese said in a Tuesday statement that its revised bankruptcy plan filed Monday was its "best and final" offer. It would pay claimants $200 million in cash, plus the potential for additional recoveries from the diocese's insurers. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn in Manhattan, who is overseeing the diocese's chapter 11, and attorneys for abuse survivors called the proposal a nonstarter at a court hearing later Tuesday morning. The diocese's attempt to resolve about 600 sex-abuse claims has been stalled for months, and Judge Glenn had warned in July that he could dismiss the bankruptcy case if no progress was made. Judge Glenn on Tuesday said he would not approve a bankruptcy plan without detailed financial information from each of the approximately 130 parishes within the diocese. Abuse claimants who vote on the plan must be able to weigh the value of their claim against the resources available to the parish where their abuse occurred, Judge Glenn said.

Digital Currency Group in Deal with Bankrupt Unit Genesis to End $620 Million Suit

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Digital Currency Group struck a new repayment deal with its bankrupt subsidiary, Genesis Global Holdco LLC, as part of an agreement to end a lawsuit that sought roughly $620 million from DCG, Bloomberg News reported. Genesis lawyer Sean O’Neal said during a hearing yesterday that the deal will provide the bankrupt crypto lender with roughly $200 million in value over the next few weeks and requires DCG to complete outstanding payments in April 2024. If DCG defaults, Genesis can try to collect any unpaid amount, according to court papers. The proposed agreement is meant to resolve a lawsuit Genesis brought in September to recover outstanding loans from its parent conpany. DCG, which has been making payments to Genesis since the lawsuit was filed, still owes its subsidiary $324.5 million as of Nov. 28, according to court documents. Genesis said that the agreement will avoid months of costly litigation with its parent company and guarantees that the bankrupt crypto lender will be partially repaid what it’s owed. O’Neal said that the deal doesn’t resolve other disputes with DCG related to Genesis’s plan for resolving its bankruptcy. Genesis is also facing off in court against its former business partner Gemini Trust Co., and the two also face a suit brought against them by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Meanwhile, New York State has brought legal action against them and DCG.

Barretts Minerals Fights to Keep Bankruptcy Case in Texas

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Talc supplier Barretts Minerals is challenging an effort by creditors, including tort claimants, to move its chapter 11 bankruptcy case from Texas to Montana, where the business is based, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Facing hundreds of personal-injury lawsuits, the former Pfizer minerals business filed for bankruptcy protection in October in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston. Barretts supplied talc for cosmetic products alleged to have caused injuries primarily from exposure to asbestos supposedly contained in the products. Pfizer spun off Barretts in 1992, when the health care business wanted to divest itself of its minerals businesses. Minerals Technologies became an independent company that included Barretts, taking over the specialty minerals businesses. Earlier this month, the official unsecured creditors’ committee said the Barretts bankruptcy case should be heard in Montana, noting that the company’s primary business of talc mining had occurred in Dillon, Mont., a few miles from its headquarters. The committee said Barretts is trying to justify its “blatant forum shopping” in Texas by becoming a landlord to two restaurants there, a McDonald’s in San Antonio and a Whataburger in San Angelo. In a response filed on Monday, Barretts Chief Restructuring Officer David Gordon said that of the more than 550 pending talc lawsuits against the business, he isn’t aware of any in Montana. In contrast, he said that he is aware of at least six lawsuits against Barretts in Texas.

MLB and Formula 1 Face Fraud Suits for Promoting FTX

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FTX investors suing the cryptocurrency exchange’s celebrity promoters for allegedly helping to facilitate an $11 billion fraud have some new targets, including Major League Baseball, Formula One racing and Mercedes-Benz Group’s racing team, Bloomberg News reported. Investors’ lawyers sued MLB — the first major sports league to sign a promotional deal with FTX in 2021 — and the other entities in U.S. federal court in Miami on Monday, accusing them of "aiding and abetting and/or actively participating in the FTX Group’s massive, multi-billion-dollar global fraud.” At one point, MLB umpires wore FTX patches on their sleeves. FTX investors who say they lost at least $11 billion in the exchange's meltdown allege that MLB, F1 and the Mercedes F1 racing team helped push the sale of unregulated securities through promotional deals with the cryptocurrency site. Company founder Sam Bankman-Fried was convicted of fraud and conspiracy earlier this month. The additions broaden a class-action suit that already includes more than two dozen celebrities who shilled for FTX in TV commercials and other events. They include big names such as ex-NFL star Tom Brady, current American League Most Valuable Player Shohei Ohtani and NBA sharpshooter Steph Curry.

Endo Creditors Seek to Resolve U.S. Government Claims for $465 Million

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A group of Endo International lenders have proposed paying up to $465 million to settle U.S. government claims that have held up the drug company's bankruptcy restructuring, according to court documents filed this week, Reuters reported. The lender group, which includes investment firms Oaktree Capital Management, Silver Point Capital, and Bain Capital, has offered to buy Endo in exchange for wiping out $6 billion in company debt, but objections from the U.S. Department of Justice have blocked the sale from moving forward. The lenders said they have not yet reached final agreement with the Justice Department, and they are seeking financial contributions from other Endo stakeholders for the proposed settlement, according to a Monday court filing in federal bankruptcy court in New York. The lender group had previously agreed to fund nearly $600 million in settlements that Endo had reached with states and people afflicted by the U.S. opioid crisis resolving claims it helped fuel the epidemic with its painkillers.

Bankrupt Genesis Sues Crypto Firm Gemini to Recover $690 Million

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Bankrupt crypto lender Genesis Global Holdco LLC is suing Gemini Trust Co. to recover nearly $690 million that Genesis says the crypto platform withdrew from Genesis in the months before the company’s chapter 11 filing in January, Bloomberg News reported. Genesis said in a Tuesday complaint in New York bankruptcy court that the withdrawals made by Gemini were unprecedented and amounted to a run-on-the-bank that came at the expense of the crypto lender’s other creditors. The lawsuit escalates disputes in the bankruptcy between Genesis and Gemini, which collaborated on its Gemini Earn program that let clients collect about 8% interest on their digital-asset holdings. Last month, Gemini sued Genesis in an attempt to determine who rightfully owns a slug of shares in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust now worth nearly $1.6 billion.

Sandy Hook Families Offer Alex Jones Two Ways Out of Bankruptcy

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Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims’ families proposed that conspiracy theorist Alex Jones wind up his bankruptcy by paying creditors at least $85 million over 10 years or undergo an orderly liquidation, Bloomberg Law reported. The Sandy Hook families, along with an official committee of Jones’ creditors, argued in court papers Wednesday that the 11-month-long bankruptcy case for the right-wing radio host should be brought to a close by February. The creditors laid out a dual-option proposal in light of what they say is Jones’ failure to advance a viable way out of chapter 11 while continuing to enjoy an extravagant lifestyle costing up to $90,000 a month. The plan, as described to the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, would allow Jones to undergo an orderly liquidation of his assets or adhere to a 10-year fixed-payment plan with distributions of at least $8.5 million a year. Under the fixed-payment plan, the creditors would agree to release their roughly $1.5 billion in state court judgment awards stemming from Jones’ repeated lies that the 2012 massacre of elementary school students and teachers was a hoax. Both options contemplate preserving causes of actions against third parties affiliated with Jones and his Infowars program.

Bankrupt WeWork Enters Financing Agreements with Certain Lenders

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WeWork said on Tuesday that it had secured commitments for up to $682.5 million in debtor-in-possession financing from some of its lenders, weeks after the shared office space provider filed for bankruptcy protection, Reuters reported. The SoftBank-backed company is seeking to address more than $4 billion in debt and unsustainable future rent costs through a bankruptcy plan. WeWork, once the most valuable U.S. startup, struggled to achieve profitability as a rise in work-from-home trends following the pandemic soured demand for its shared office spaces. In a regulatory filing, WeWork disclosed it had entered into a commitment letter on Nov. 15 with parties including Goldman Sachs International Bank, JPMorgan Chase Bank and SoftBank Vision Fund 2 for the financing of a letter-of-credit facility. The financing could be as much as $682.5 million but it could also be smaller than that depending on other conditions, WeWork said, adding that the parties have agreed to provide the financing individually and not jointly.