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Ten years after newspaper publisher Tribune Media Co. defaulted on billions of dollars in debt, a federal judge is pushing for settlement talks between big shareholders that cashed out in a leveraged buyout and creditors that were burned in the bankruptcy that followed, the Wall Street Journal reported. The push came from Judge Richard Sullivan, a New York federal judge presiding over the $8 billion Tribune LBO lawsuit, a classic of the bankruptcy genre, in which creditors say the deal that enriched shareholders doomed them and the publisher. After years of wins and losses for both sides, the case is no closer to trial, and Judge Sullivan is trying to drive peace talks. On Monday, he received a 21-page letter from lawyers caught up in the litigation, who generally agree mediation or settlement talks may be in order, but maybe not right now. “I was curious about how close we are to the end. It doesn’t sound like we are very close,” Judge Kevin Carey commented at a hearing Tuesday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. He has presided over Tribune’s bankruptcy case since 2008 and was warned he might have to keep the proceeding alive for years to come. The fight taking place in New York federal court grew out of the bankruptcy, which came less than a year after the buyout in 2007. The Chicago company blamed a soured economy and tough media climate. Creditors blame the LBO architect Sam Zell, Wall Street advisers and company leaders, and major shareholders that drained cash out of Tribune and left the company mired in debt.

ConocoPhillips Co. asked a New York federal court on Friday to seize control of billions of dollars in legal claims asserted by Venezuela’s indebted state oil company against foreign oil traders, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Houston-based ConocoPhillips sued a legal trust created to bring multibillion-dollar commercial tort claims on behalf of Petroleós de Venezuela SA, or PdVSA, surrounding an alleged corruption scheme involving dozens of oil trading companies, banks and individuals. PdVSA set up the trust as a vehicle for prosecuting those claims, earmarking 66 percent of the potential proceeds for New York law firms that agreed to front legal costs. The remaining 34 percent is available to PdVSA, the trust’s beneficiary. ConocoPhillips said that the arrangement is designed to evade PdVSA’s creditors, shielding the legal claims from seizure while eventually repatriating any recoveries back to Venezuela.

Harvey Weinstein’s bankrupt movie studio has a settlement that will allow it to close its sale to Lantern Capital Partners at a discounted price, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Lantern will shave $21 million off the originally agreed $310 million price for the business of Weinstein Co., the entertainment company brought down by allegations of sexual assault and harassment against its co-founder. Harvey Weinstein has denied engaging in nonconsensual sex. He pleaded not guilty on Monday to New York state court sex-crime charges after being indicted for predatory sexual assault and a first-degree criminal sex act. The most recent charges are in addition to others, including charges of first- and third-degree rape. Weinstein Co. filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March, shunned in the entertainment industry and facing an onslaught of litigation for allegedly failing to stop, or aiding, Harvey Weinstein. Lantern, a Dallas buyout firm, had demanded a $23 million price cut, provoking an outcry from the official committee of unsecured creditors. A mid-July court fight was scheduled, with junior creditors vowing to challenge the company’s decision to bow to Lantern’s demands.

The YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh wants to dismiss its chapter 11 case, saying that a recent lease settlement with its landlord that will allow it to reorganize and pay off other creditors outside of court protection, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. The YMCA filed for bankruptcy in May, citing the lease at its Downtown fitness center on Fifth Avenue near Market Square as the primary reason the nonprofit had an annual deficit of $1 million. In June — days after closing the facility — the YMCA reached a deal with landlord Millcraft Industries to pay more than $2.75 million it owes the real estate company over the next four years. It was paying about $100,000 monthly to Millcraft for the space. “The YMCA filed its bankruptcy when faced with catastrophic liabilities that would have arisen outside of bankruptcy if it breached the lease for the Downtown Y,” the nonprofit said in a motion to dismiss the case filed last week in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. “The court-approved settlement ... has fixed the YMCA’s liability [to Millcraft] and has otherwise allowed it to take necessary further steps so the YMCA can pay its trade creditors and meet its debt service obligations without the need for continued protection of the Bankruptcy Code,” it said in the court filing. The YMCA also wants to shed administrative expenses associated with a chapter 11 case, it said.

The Weinstein Co., its buyer and creditors on Friday said that they reached a deal to increase the bankrupt film studio’s sales price by $2 million, to $289 million, to ensure the deal goes through, Reuters reported. Robert Del Genio, a senior managing director of business advisory firm FTI Consulting who is serving as Weinstein Co.’s chief restructuring officer, said in statement that the agreement “clears the path for this sale to close.” The deal follows a bid last month by the Weinstein Co. to cut its sales price to $287 million to settle disputes that broke out after it announced a plan in May to sell its library, television shows and unreleased movies to Lantern Capital Partners for $310 million. Weinstein Co. said that it needed to cut the sales price to close the transaction because it was nearly out of cash and financing deadlines for the sale were approaching fast. Weinstein Co. had won bankruptcy court approval for the $310 million sale, but before it could close disputes broke out over so-called cure amounts the studio would have to pay to exit or transfer certain contracts.

Nineteen members of Congress sent a letter to the private-equity backers of Toys “R” Us Inc. questioning their role in the toy retailer’s bankruptcy and criticizing the leveraged-buyout model as an engine of business failure and job loss, the Wall Street Journal reported. The July 5 letter was addressed to the heads of KKR & Co., Bain Capital and Vornado Realty Trust and signed by 18 Democratic members of the House of Representatives and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). It asks whether the investment firms deliberately pushed Toys “R” Us into bankruptcy and encourages them to compensate the roughly 33,000 workers who lost their jobs. “Leveraged buyouts — such as those facilitated by your companies — often result in mass job loss, closure of profitable businesses and unnecessary financial burdens for local government,” the letter states. “Such buyouts harm communities, while investment managers walk away with significant gains.”

Shiekh Shoes LLC’s reorganization plan has become effective, and the retailer can add its name to the list of those that were able to survive a bankruptcy process without a liquidation, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Shiekh joins fellow footwear retailers such as The Walking Co. and Payless ShoeSource Inc. that closed a portion of stores under bankruptcy protection but continue to live on. For Shiekh, the key problems weren’t much different than those of its competitors that sought chapter 11 protection. Unsurprisingly, lack of liquidity and overexpansion were at the top of the list. The difference is that Shiekh faced those issues early on. “The big thing was identifying the issues early on that helped us achieve the goal of a restructuring,” said Asa Hami, an attorney from SulmeyerKupetz representing Shiekh. The company owed its secured lenders, including Comvest Capital, roughly $7 million on a senior secured loan, which it was able to repay once it found $16 million in bankruptcy financing, Hami said.

Education Management Corp. paid Chief Executive Mark McEachen more than $14 million as the company he stepped in to lead sold off its business and prepared to shut down, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. A for-profit school operator, Education Management was already facing lawsuits and fretful regulators when McEachen accepted the CEO role in September 2015. Within months, the Pittsburgh company agreed to $200 million worth of settlements with state and federal regulators. Not long after, it began the process that led to the closure or sale of the schools and, last week, bankruptcy for the company. In the 2015 settlements, Education Management admitted no wrongdoing. However, allegations that the company had misled students and the government that offered student loan funds took a toll on its enrollment figures.

A massive Utah solar fraud case in federal court took a sudden twist on Monday when two companies central in the case filed for bankruptcy or announced their intent to file, the Utah Desert News reported. The bankruptcy claim by RaPower3 is meant to delay, or even possibly derail, the U.S. Department of Justice's motion to appoint a receiver in the case to take over those companies and also to freeze millions in assets. International Automated Systems also announced its intent to file, according to court records, but a full document was not available. That money, the federal government argued, represents unjust enrichment on the part of the companies and the men in charge of them, Neldon Johnson and Gregory Shepard.

Comfort shoe company Rockport Co. said that it would scrap a planned bankruptcy auction of its assets after Boston-based private-equity firm Charlesbank was the only bidder for the company, the Wall Street Journal reported. The sale to Charlesbank Capital Partners LLC, which requires bankruptcy court approval, includes Rockport’s wholesale business, along with its Asia and Europe operations and retail stores. Rockport’s products are sold by retailers in 60 countries. Rockport filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in May, with $287 million in debt. It had changed hands a number of times in recent years before its bondholders took ownership last year. Adidas AG had acquired Rockport when it bought Reebok in 2006. In 2015, Adidas sold Rockport for $280 million to Boston firm Berkshire Partners and New Balance. Rockport’s biggest unsecured creditors in bankruptcy include Adidas, which claims it is owed more than $50 million.