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Le Cirque's expenses this year spun out of control, and it recently sought chapter 11 protection while saying goodbye to its chef, Tom Valenti, Forbes reported. In a court filing, Le Cirque said it estimated expenses during the next 30 days of $463,000, but only anticipated $400,000 in income. It also said it would have trouble meeting its lease obligations. At first glance, Le Cirque might be seen as the latest victim of a decline in fine dining. Last month, French stalwart Le Perigord also closed, after failing to reach agreement with the union representing its workers. (Its owner has vowed to reconstitute it and reopen.) Grub Street estimates that at least a dozen French restaurants in New York have closed this decade. Read more. 

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Hard Rock International said that it plans to renovate and reopen the shuttered Trump Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, at a total cost of $300 million including the purchase of the property, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. Hard Rock, a casino and restaurant operator controlled by the Seminole Tribe of Florida, will be majority owner of the rebranded Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City in partnership with the Morris and Jingoli families, according to statement late Wednesday. The group acquired the property this week from billionaire Carl Icahn, who is whittling down his holdings in the gambling market. The new owners plan a complete remodel and rebranding of the property, which is located on 17 acres along the Atlantic City boardwalk. They said that the renovation would create 3,000 local jobs. The remodeled property could be opened by the spring of next year, according Jim Allen, chairman of Hard Rock International.

Carl Icahn is selling the former Trump Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, to a group of investors led by Hard Rock International, whittling down his holdings in the gambling market, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The billionaire’s Icahn Enterprises LP acquired the Taj Mahal through a bankruptcy court restructuring in early 2015 and shuttered the property in October after failing to reach agreements with striking workers over pay and benefits. Icahn already owns the Tropicana casino in Atlantic City through Tropicana Entertainment Inc. The sale doesn’t include the nearby Trump Plaza casino, which also closed. Icahn intends to sell that as well. The Taj Mahal was once the flagship of Donald Trump’s casino empire, which broke up in a series of bankruptcies. President Trump is no longer associated with the properties.

Daily fantasy-sports site Fantasy Aces LP, which last month filed for bankruptcy while owing players more than $1 million, has hired a new lawyer as questions emerge about the site’s handling of funds in players’ accounts, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. Robert J. DeGroot, who describes himself as a criminal defense lawyer, said that he was hired last week by Fantasy Aces to respond to questions from New York’s gaming regulator about the player accounts. Players had an estimated $1.3 million deposited in Fantasy Aces accounts when the company filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation on Jan. 31 with just $3,539 in cash on hand, according to court documents. The bankruptcy came the same day that the New York State Gaming Commission sent a letter to Fantasy Aces seeking information about the player accounts, which under state law must be kept separate from a fantasy-sports company’s other funds.

A judge has approved the sale of the Big Apple Circus to Compass Partners LLC, an investment firm that intends to revive the circus by bringing holiday shows back to New York City’s Lincoln Center this year, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane said during a court hearing yesterday that he was “happy to hear the news of a robust auction” for Big Apple Circus, which last week named Compass the winning bidder with a $1.3 million offer for the circus’s equipment and name. The sale represents an opportunity for new ownership to bring back Big Apple Circus which, faced with declining revenue and struggling to pay its debt, cancelled its 2016 performance schedule before seeking chapter 11 protection in November.

The chance that the organizer of Mavericks big wave surf contest in California could pull off a quick bankruptcy sale so the event could still take place next month is looking increasingly unlikely, the Wall Street Journal reported today. “There’s logistically no way in hell,” said Sabrina Brennan, a commissioner on the San Mateo County Harbor Commission, which issued the permit to the contest’s bankrupt organizer, Titans of Mavericks. The company and parent Cartel Management Inc., filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy on Jan. 31, right in the middle of the official window to host the Mavericks contest, one of surfing’s premier big-wave contests, in which some of the world’s best surfers face off on waves that can reach 60 feet in height. Brennan said that she doesn’t believe the event can happen this year, due to the length of time it would take a new owner to coordinate with authorities including the Coast Guard and California Highway Patrol. The surf contest is held on 48-hours’ notice when wind, weather and ocean swell conditions align for the perfect day. This year would have been the first event under Cartel’s permit, and Cartel has the permission for four more years. Owner Griffin Guess said that a lightning-fast sale, made cleaner by the bankruptcy process, could allow a buyer to hold the event this year prior to the March 31 deadline.

Compass Partners LLC won a bankruptcy auction to acquire the Big Apple Circus, setting the stage for the show’s possible return to New York City for the holiday season, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Compass Partners beat a handful of competitors at this week’s auction with a $1.3 million bid, according to court papers filed yesterday. The sale, which must be approved by a bankruptcy judge, is for Big Apple Circus’s name and most of its circus equipment. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York will review Compass’s bid at a Feb. 14 hearing.