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A group of institutional investors in OW Bunker said they plan to sue Morgan Stanley and Carnegie for about $80 million, accusing the two investment banks of misleading them ahead of the 2014 listing of the now bankrupt marine fuel oil supplier, Reuters reported yesterday. Denmark’s OW Bunker was valued at $1 billion when it floated in March 2014, but the company filed for bankruptcy in November that year after suffering hedging losses of almost $300 million, sending shockwaves through the global shipping and oil trading industry. Prior to the IPO, Morgan Stanley had been involved in an attempt to sell OW Bunker privately, according to a 400-page report published in December 2015 by a trustee in the OW Bunker bankruptcy proceedings. During that sales process in 2013, offers to buy OW Bunker were made at $220 million-$400 million, significantly lower than the IPO price of around $1 billion, the report stated.

A pair of Spokane (Wash.) doctors may be able to settle their $191 million bankruptcy by paying as little as $130,000 to be split among more than 8,000 creditors, the Seattle Spokesman-Review reported. Attorney John Munding, who was appointed as trustee in the case, proposed the settlement earlier this month in a bid to resolve the chapter 7 bankruptcy filed by Drs. Debra and Sajid Ravasia. Along with a list of conditions, the Ravasias could settle the case by either transferring $175,000 from a deferred compensation account or coming up with $130,000 in cash. The Ravasias jointly filed for bankruptcy in January based on the failed companies run by Debra Ravasia, a gynecologist, who up until last year was the executive director of the Northwest Health Summit and Ajuva Spa. The bankruptcy filing generated scores of complaints from former clients who questioned the billing practices of the businesses run by Debra Ravasia. Sajid Ravasia is a psychiatrist at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center.

Parties involved in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis bankruptcy proceedings made final arguments in front of a federal judge on Tuesday, with each side making accusations of deceptive tactics and baseless claims, the St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press reported yesterday. The proceedings are intended to work out a plan for paying survivors of sexual abuse at the hands of clergy. After listening to arguments by multiple attorneys, presiding U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Kressel took the case under advisement. Judge Kressel is expected to make a decision in the coming weeks on which reorganization plan will be used in the settlement. Two plans are under consideration in the wake of the archdiocese’s chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in January 2015. The first was crafted by lawyers for the archdiocese and rejected by the group of survivors. The second was submitted by attorneys for the survivors.

Raleigh, N.C.-based food distributor El Ideal Foods — which specializes in Hispanic and other international food products — has filed for chapter 11 protection, the Triangle Business Journal reported yesterday. El Ideal Foods cited assets of about $470,000 and liabilities of roughly $965,000 in its filing. It remains open for business. El Ideal Foods stated gross revenue of about $1.8 million since the beginning of 2017 in its filing. In 2016 and 2015, gross revenue was approximately $3.1 million each.

Quadrant 4 Systems' unsecured creditors’ committee filed an objection in bankruptcy court to the company's post-petition financing motion, BankruptcyData.com reported today. The committee asserts, "The Proposed Final Order is not a proper exercise of the Debtor's business judgment. The Debtor has no meaningful leverage in its negotiations with its primary lender, BMO Harris Bank, N.A. ('BMO'), who continues to exert unabated control over the Debtor.” The objection continued that the debtor has no intent to reorganize and therefore its decisions “must be considered in light of what's best for its estate and its unsecured creditors and not just its senior lender.”

Already facing up to 20 years in federal prison, disgraced former lawyer Todd Prins now is tangling with the Internal Revenue Service, the San Antonio Express-News reported today. Prins tried making good on his delinquent income taxes — sending the agency $82,400 in October. Problem is, the IRS doesn’t want the payment, saying in a court filing on Wednesday in Prins’ personal bankruptcy case that the money was “likely stolen.” Prins transferred the money — belonging to a Houston company — out of his now-shuttered San Antonio law firm’s trust account to the IRS, the agency alleges in a complaint also filed on Wednesday. Prins, in a June court filing, said that the IRS’s failure to give him credit for paying the taxes contradicts his understanding of a confidential agreement reached with federal prosecutors.

A university legally embattled nonprofit at the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, has declared bankruptcy, Inside Higher Ed reported today. The news comes as two former UWO Foundation administrators are being sued after the UW System asked the Wisconsin Department of Justice to pursue action regarding “improper financial actions” related to five real-estate projects financed by the nonprofit. The UWO Foundation continues to operate rogue of the president’s discretion. “We learned on August 17 the UWO Foundation filed a reorganization petition under chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy law,” Chancellor Andrew Leavitt said in a statement. “After months of extensive effort by the Board of Regents, UW System and the Department of Justice to secure the future of these investments for UWO, the parties were unable to reach a settlement and the Foundation ultimately chose this action.”

Perfumania Holdings Inc., a U.S. retailer with exclusive distribution rights to several Trump-branded colognes, said yesterday that it had initiated a recapitalization and was filing voluntary petitions for chapter 11 protection, Reuters reported. The company said in a statement that it planned to reduce its retail store count, increase investments in its e-commerce business and become a privately held company. The company also said that it would “continue to operate in the normal course of business.” Perfumania’s wholesale businesses, Parlux, holds the exclusive distribution rights to U.S. President Donald Trump’s fragrances Empire and Success, as well as daughter Ivanka Trump’s fragrance. The company’s portfolio also includes fragrances from celebrities such as Rihanna, Jessica Simpson and Jay Z. Perfumania said its Parlux and Five Star Fragrance subsidiaries were not included in the chapter 11 filings. Read more.

What does the future hold for retail bankruptcies? Be sure to attend ABI’s Bankruptcy 2017: Views from the Bench on October 17. 

The Nevada Gaming Commission unanimously approved a series of registrations and licensing that will enable the Caesars Entertainment Corp. to clear Nevada’s final regulatory hurdle while in bankruptcy, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported today. Caesars has 47 properties worldwide, including nine in Las Vegas. Caesars CEO Mark Frissora, Tim Donovan, the company’s general counsel and compliance officer, and chief financial officer Eric Hession explained a merger of Caesars Entertainment Corp. with Caesars Entertainment Operating Co. and the emerging company’s exit from chapter 11 protection as well as registrations of subsidiary companies and LLCs and the licensing and suitability of several corporate officers, executives and key employees. Under terms of the bankruptcy emergence plan, outlined in an 839-page registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission last month, Caesars would separate nearly all of its U.S.-based real estate property assets from its gaming operations. Caesars Entertainment would continue to own and manage the gaming operations and the property assets would be held by a newly created real estate investment trust owned by some creditors.

Sempra Energy's deal to purchase power transmission company Oncor includes a commitment to pay off up to $3 billion in debt within seven years, a promise designed to calm jittery Texas regulators who must approve the takeover of a key piece of the state's power grid, Dow Jones Newswires reported yesterday. Oncor is one of the largest electricity distribution systems in the country, and Sempra is offering $9.45 billion for 80 percent of it. That 80 percent is in the hands of Energy Future Holdings Corp., the former TXU Corp., which filed for bankruptcy more than three years ago. On Sunday, Energy Future turned its back on a $9 billion buyout offer from Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Energy Inc. and agreed to a buyout led by Sempra, which owns Southern California Gas Co. and San Diego Gas & Electric. One of the commissioners who will decide the fate of Sempra's takeover effort summoned Oncor Chief Executive Bob Shapard to a session, slated for next week, to answer questions about the proposed Sempra deal. Commissioner Ken Anderson of the Public Utility Commission of Texas wants to know when regulators will see details of the transaction. Anderson also wants to know how much Oncor has spent on lawyers over the two years as it sought to disentangle itself from its bankrupt owner, according to a letter he sent on Wednesday.