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A lawyer who made his name as a Watergate prosecutor was approved yesterday to begin investigating a series of corporate deals in the lead-up to the bankruptcy of the casino operating unit of Caesars Entertainment Corp., Reuters reported yesterday. Creditors allege those deals looted billions of dollars from the operator of 38 casinos for the benefit of the parent company, which is not bankrupt, and its private equity backers, Apollo Global Management and TPG Capital. Richard Davis, a former partner at bankruptcy powerhouse Weil Gotshal & Manges, will investigative whether the operating unit received fair value for choice properties such as the Linq complex in Las Vegas. Davis was given a wide-ranging role by the judge who tasked him with investigating any apparent conflicts of interest by the bankrupt unit.

As the 11-month mark of its chapter 11 filing approaches, Energy Future Holdings’ (EFH) campaign to get out of bankruptcy court probably remains at least another a year away, the Dallas Morning News reported yesterday. The creation of Energy Future Holdings — through the $45 billion buyout of the former TXU Corp. in 2007 — brought together some of the biggest names on Wall Street on a bet that electricity prices would rise. Almost a year after executives sought financial protection in the courts, there is little if any public indication progress has been made on determining how to divide the company’s assets, spread across subsidiaries Luminant, TXU Energy and Oncor. Negotiations are continuing between EFH and the various creditor groups, say attorneys in the case, who declined to comment publicly due to the sensitivity of the proceedings. But that process has been held up as interest spirals around the sale of power transmission company Oncor, which counts 10 million customers in Texas. When EFH filed for bankruptcy last April the plan was that Oncor would be taken over by a group of creditors aligned with Hunt Consolidated, the Dallas energy and real estate conglomerate run by billionaire Ray L. Hunt. But then NextEra Energy, a Florida-based power company with considerable assets in Texas, raised its hand with a bid later valued at $18 billion, and EFH had to scrap its restructuring plan. Now U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Sontchi has approved an auction process scheduled to conclude in August. With companies including Houston utility Centerpoint Energy and Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway reportedly having explored bids, some are speculating the sale price could reach $20 billion.

Bankrupt LightSquared, after three years of litigation with creditors, today will seek U.S. court approval of a mostly consensual plan to end its bankruptcy and repay in full its largest creditor, Dish Network Corp. Chairman Charles Ergen, Reuters reported today. LightSquared's bankruptcy is being closely watched because its main asset, wireless spectrum, is considered very valuable. Just how valuable it is, and what it can be used for, has been fiercely debated among stakeholders, and the bankruptcy will determine who ultimately controls it. LightSquared, the wireless venture owned by Phil Falcone's Harbinger Capital Partners, entered bankruptcy in May 2012 when the Federal Communications Commission revoked its spectrum license over concerns of GPS interference. Since then, there has been a parade of failed restructuring plans and litigation between the company and Ergen over the legality of his purchase of a huge chunk of LightSquared loan debt. However, LightSquared today will present a plan to give Ergen what he has long demanded: repayment of his $1 billion claim, in full, in cash, and with interest — a $1.5 billion tab.

A RadioShack Corp. lender asked a bankruptcy judge to intervene in the auction of the electronics retailer and said it had submitted a bid to liquidate the chain that was "materially superior" to one favored by RadioShack, Reuters reported yesterday. Salus Capital Partners said in a court filing yesterday that it had submitted a bid jointly with three liquidators to offer $271 million in cash at the auction that began on Monday. The lender said, however, that RadioShack favored a proposal from hedge fund Standard General, even though its bid included only $16.4 million in cash. Standard General planned to keep open about 1,740 RadioShack stores, many in conjunction with wireless operator Sprint Corp.

Puerto Rico's indebted electric power authority PREPA will seek to persuade creditors in a meeting today to give it more time to restructure its business, Reuters reported today. At a meeting in New York, PREPA will argue that creditors, who hold over $9 billion of its debt, should extend a forbearance agreement that expires on March 31. Once the agreement expires creditors have the right to accelerate their claims, potentially forcing the utility into insolvency. The creditor group represents 60 percent of PREPA's bondholders and includes large hedge funds such as Blue Mountain Capital and Appaloosa Management, mutual funds Oppenheimer and Franklin Templeton, bond insurers, as well as Citibank and Scotiabank. PREPA missed a deadline on March 2 when it was supposed to present bondholders with a comprehensive restructuring plan. Earlier PREPA told creditors restructuring would likely take 10 years instead of an expected five years. The creditors did not take action when that milestone was missed.

Hedge fund Standard General has raised its bid to buy about 1,740 stores of bankrupt electronics retailer RadioShack Corp. in a court-supervised auction, which entered its second day yesterday, Reuters reported. Standard General, which would operate most of the stores in conjunction with Sprint Corp., increased its initial $145 million bid by at least $20 million, according to one of the sources. It also committed to keeping some 7,500 RadioShack jobs. Liquidators who proposed closing the stores and selling the inventory and fixtures also made a bid. The result of the private auction, taking place at the New York offices of the Jones Day law firm, must be approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware. A hearing has been scheduled for Thursday at 9:30 a.m.

Karmaloop Inc., an online apparel company, filed for bankruptcy protection, becoming the latest clothing retailer to fall victim to changes in consumer trends, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The Boston-based company listed assets of more than $10 million and debt of more than $100 million in chapter 11 documents filed yesterday. “The debtors’ businesses have fallen victim to the shift in retail purchasing that is occurring, especially among retailers in the young adult age bracket, as such consumers have moved away from purchasing traditional brands,” Brian L. Davies Jr., the interim chief financial officer, said in court papers. The company will seek court permission to sell assets and named ComCap Acquisition LLC, an affiliate of one or more pre-bankruptcy lenders, as lead bidder at a court supervised auction.

Restructuring lawyer Richard Davis will likely lead an investigation into transactions by the operating unit of Caesars Entertainment Corp., which filed for chapter 11 this year, Reuters reported yesterday. The Executive Office for U.S. Trustees recommended Davis as the examiner in the case, asking a judge to consider approval of the pick at a hearing on Wednesday. Davis, a former partner at bankruptcy powerhouse Weil Gotshal & Manges, has served in several investigative roles both in and out of bankruptcy. Most recently he was tasked with probing the dealings of bankrupt hedge fund Fletcher International, whose founder, Alphonse "Buddy" Fletcher, is the husband of Ellen Pao, the plaintiff in a high-profile gender discrimination lawsuit against venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Caesars Entertainment Operating Co. filed for bankruptcy in January to cut its debt by $10 billion. Prior to filing, it transferred a number of its most valuable properties to affiliates of its parent as it struggled to overhaul operations. Creditors have alleged the moves were illegal efforts by the parent to place the assets beyond the reach of creditors.

Atlantic City’s Revel Casino Hotel yesterday asked a bankruptcy judge for more breathing room in a bid to move forward with a sale after the judge said she couldn’t sign off on a heavily discounted $82 million deal to Glenn Straub, a Florida-based developer, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The judge’s decision has left the $2.4 billion resort without a clear path toward resolving its financial woes, even as millions of dollars in legal and operational expenses continue to mount. During a hearing yesterday, John Cunningham, a lawyer for Revel, mentioned several paths Revel could take, but each comes with its own set of difficult complications. One option is for Straub to buy the casino under an earlier, court-approved $95 million deal stemming from a bankruptcy auction last year, but that appears increasingly unlikely. “I’m not going to pay the 95.4,” Straub said, referring to his original $95.4 million offer. The Florida property developer failed to meet a Feb. 9 deadline to close the $95.4 million sale, after a string of 11th-hour appeals from the resort’s former tenants and other creditors muddied the terms of the deal.