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Real-estate developer Woodbridge Group of Companies has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as it grapples with questions about its fundraising practices from the Securities and Exchange Commission, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The bankruptcy filing means thousands of individual investors, including retirees that helped finance Woodbridge’s real estate dealings, are at risk of losing hundreds of millions of dollars in Woodbridge’s chapter 11 case. The bankruptcy filing may also send tremors through the Southern California real-estate market, where many of the company’s properties — with an estimated $650 million to $750 million — are located. Woodbridge owns the Owlwood estate, a 1930s Italian Renaissance-style mansion once owned by the pop duo Sonny and Cher. A Woodbridge affiliate paid $90 million for Owlwood in September 2016 and has it on the market for $180 million. Owlwood was purchased the same month the SEC started asking questions about Woodbridge and its practice of raising money from mom-and-pop retail investors.

Toys R Us UK is to seek creditor approval for a restructuring plan involving closing at least 26 of its 105 stores in Britain in 2018, Reuters reported today. The British arm of Toys R Us Inc. of the United States which filed for bankruptcy in September, said that it had submitted a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) plan to its creditors and would seek their approval in the next 17 days. Toys R Us UK said that if approved by the creditors the CVA plan would substantially reduce its rental obligations and allow the business to move to a new, viable business model. The firm said it anticipated redundancies among its workforce of 3,200 but did not give a specific number. Toys R Us UK said that all its stores would remain open as normal through Christmas and into the new year.

A Delaware corporate law judge has backed a bid to oust distressed company manager Lynn Tilton from control of some of the companies she has been running, finding the businesses belong to investors that once backed her but now want her gone, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The ruling on Thursday from Vice Chancellor Joseph Slights of Delaware’s Court of Chancery is a setback for Tilton, a pioneer in raising investor funds to salvage troubled companies. She recently was cleared of fraud charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission but failed to persuade the Delaware judge that she is the true owner and rightful manager of some of the most valuable companies in her collection of distressed businesses. “We strongly disagree with this ruling and will immediately appeal to the Delaware Supreme Court,“ said a representative for Patriarch Partners, Tilton’s management and investment firm. The representative called the lawsuit “nothing more than a bad-faith attempt” to oust Tilton from control of the companies.

Morehead Memorial Hospital of Eden, N.C., is dealing with regulatory fallout from a “phishing attack” this summer that jeopardized protected health information belonging to thousands of former patients and employees, the Winston-Salem Journal reported. The news emerged this week in the hospital’s continuing bankruptcy case when its attorney sought permission to pay a Denver law firm specializing in data security to represent it in the “regulatory investigation.” Bankruptcy lawyer Jennifer Lyday submitted paperwork Tuesday seeking court approval to hire Denver firm Norton Rose Fulbright to help with “a regulatory investigation and any other investigations, actions and/or claims arising from a data security incident.”

The U.S. trustee in the Toys ’R Us bankruptcy case has filed a strongly worded objection to the company's plan to pay between $16 million and $32 million to its 17 most highly paid executives, USA Today reported. "It defies logic and wisdom," the objection by U.S. Trustee Judy A. Robbins states, that Toys ’R Us is proposing "multimillion-dollar bonuses for the senior leadership of a company that began the year with employee layoffs and concludes it in the midst of the holiday season in bankruptcy.” Toys ’R Us filed a motion Nov. 15 asking for permission for an executive incentive bonus plan that would give its top executives $16 million in extra pay. Those bonuses would double to $32 million if certain financial goals were reached. Robbins noted that five of the top Toys ’R Us executives also received $8.2 million in retention bonuses five days before the bankruptcy filing in September. Those bonuses included a $2.8 million payment to CEO Dave Brandon "just to stay with the company," the objection states.

The Weinstein Co. has dodged a court order that would have forced the embattled studio to freeze some of its assets as it looks for investors or a buyer in the wake of alleged sexual misconduct by the studio’s recently fired co-chairman, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Bankruptcy Judge Sheri Bluebond of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles on Tuesday denied a request for a temporary restraining order against Weinstein Co. The demand was sought by a court-appointed trustee for a defunct video distributor called Genius Products LLC. The studio said in court papers that the order would have created significant hardship for the company and restricted its ability to both raise capital and operate the business.

Atlanta-based radio giant Cumulus Media has filed for chapter 11 with $2.4 billion in debt, and it has reached an agreement with 69 percent of its term loan holders, Variety reported. Cumulus’s pre-packaged restructuring agreement with lenders will reduce the company’s debt by more than $1 billion. Earlier this month, Cumulus defaulted on a nearly $24 million debt payment to its lenders. The stock will continue to trade on the OTC (over-the-counter) market, where it moved after being delisted at NASDAQ last week. The company will also cease paying interest on bonds or interest that will accrue on bonds during its financial restructuring process, according to a post on the company website.

Gawker Media LLC bankruptcy lawyers said yesterday that Peter Thiel shouldn’t be allowed to bid on its namesake blog, Gawker.com, unless the billionaire venture capitalist agrees to settle or otherwise end potential legal claims Gawker is pursuing against him related to the former blog publisher’s demise, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The response comes a week after Thiel demanded he be allowed to participate in a continuing sale process for Gawker, which filed for bankruptcy after losing a lawsuit filed by wrestler Hulk Hogan and financed by Thiel. His lawyers have argued that he is the “the most able and logical purchaser” for Gawker.com but that so far, his requests to participate in the sale process have been rebuffed. Gawker Media’s lawyers said yesterday that William Holden, a managing director at professional services firm Dacarba LLC who is overseeing the sale process, “has good reason to doubt” that Thiel’s involvement at this time would maximize the potential value in Gawker.com or even result in a good-faith bid from Thiel for the website. Among the concerns Gawker Media’s lawyers cite is what they describe as Thiel’s “long history of vindictive conduct” against the publisher.

Breitburn Energy Partners LP can begin seeking creditor support for a reorganization plan that would split the bankrupt U.S. oil firm into two separate, creditor-owned companies, a U.S. court ruled yesterday, Reuters reported. One of the companies would be created through a $775 million new share offering for unsecured creditors, led by investment firms Elliott Management Corp. and WL Ross & Co., and hold prized Permian Basin assets. The other would be owned by secured creditors with $793 million of debt, and would house oil reserves in California, the Rocky Mountains, the U.S. Midwest and U.S. Southeast. Bankruptcy Judge <b>Stuart Bernstein</b> yesterday approved the disclosures in Breitburn’s plan after scrutiny over costs linked to the rights offering and objections from an official equity committee representing shareholders, which has said the proposal is unfair. Los Angeles-based Breitburn is one of more than 100 energy companies that filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy after oil prices crashed in 2015. Read more.

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