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Creditors of Caesars Entertainment Operating Co. sued the bankrupt casino company, accusing it of trying to buy votes for its reorganization plan, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. A group of mid-level bondholders said in a complaint filed in bankruptcy court that Caesars promised $200 million in improper payments to other creditors to secure their support. The second-lien noteholders, who have been the company’s most vocal opponents, claimed that Caesars “has pledged to continue its illegal vote-buying campaign” to persuade more creditors to back the proposal. Caesars has said that it’s making progress in getting some of the second-lien noteholders to switch sides, while a lawsuit in Manhattan federal court by the trustee for those creditors could force Caesars Entertainment Corp. to join its main operating unit in bankruptcy.

Lower-ranking creditors of Caesars Entertainment Operating Co. sued the company’s senior lenders, adding to the web of litigation that is tangling the gambling company’s efforts to reorganize and exit bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The company’s lowest-ranking bondholders will benefit if the official committee of unsecured creditors succeeds in stripping senior lenders of some of their repayment guarantees. The committee claimed in a lawsuit filed Aug. 7 in Chicago that collateral pledges backing billions of dollars in loans and senior notes are flawed and should be overturned. Since filing for bankruptcy in January, Caesars has been trying to persuade bank lenders and lower-ranking creditors to join senior noteholders that signed a reorganization plan for the Las Vegas-based company. Under that plan, Caesars’ parent company would avoid bankruptcy, keep its assets and maintain a stake in the operating unit. The proposal has split creditors. Caesars and one of its main creditor opponents, which hold middle-tier debt known as second-lien notes, agreed last week to meet. Middle-tier creditors are suing Caesars’ parent, trying to undo restructuring actions it took before the operating company filed bankruptcy. That suit might force the parent into bankruptcy. The new lawsuit by unsecured creditors targets trustees representing Caesars’ senior creditors, including the middle-tier noteholders.

U.S. Trustee Judy Robbins is raising questions about how El Paso Children's Hospital wants to spend money, according to court documents obtained by KVIA.com yesterday. In recent weeks, both the county and University Medical Center have complained about Children's expenses during bankruptcy. Robbins is objecting to Children's hiring of New York investment banking firm Miller Buckfire & Co. Children's says the firm will help it find a third-party to buy or affiliate with the hospital. Robbins said that it is unclear if Miller Buckfire will also provide financial advice. She also questioned why it needs to be paid $50,000 per month, in addition to other fees. Robbins is asking the judge to deny Children's request, unless the hospital provides more answers.

A judge has set a Sept. 1 hearing on a plan by a 123-year-old amusement park to exit bankruptcy protection, the Associated Press reported yesterday. The nonprofit board that runs Conneaut Lake Park last year filed for chapter 11 protection to prevent a sheriff's sale. The bankruptcy exit plan filed last week calls for $927,000 in delinquent property taxes to be paid within a year. But $2.9 million in debts to other creditors could take as long as 20 years to repay and, even then, the plan offers other creditors "the potential for a modest recovery," meaning only part of the money they're owed. The plan includes raising an estimated $900,000 to $1.3 million by selling 330 linear feet of lakefront property that's not needed to run the northwestern Pennsylvania park, which is home to one of the nation's oldest roller coasters, the Blue Streak. Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Jeffrey Deller, in Erie, gave creditors until Aug. 25 to comment on or object to the plan.

Caesars Entertainment Corp., the casino operator whose largest division declared bankruptcy in January, reported its best profit margin since before the financial crisis as it cut promotional costs while sales rose, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The owner of the most casinos in the U.S. generated a 28 percent margin measured by earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization across all of its units during the second quarter, according to a presentation filed Tuesday. That was the best EBITDA-to-sales ratio since 2007, Mark Frissora, chief executive officer of Caesars, told investors. Caesars’ results underscore a broader rebound in the U.S. gambling business this year, following the slump brought on by the 2008 recession. MGM Resorts International reported higher-than-expected profits yesterday because of its domestic resorts.

A judge in the Bahamas agreed Friday to delay a critical decision about the future of the $3.5 billion stalled resort project Baha Mar, the Wall Street Journal reported today. A hearing on the Bahamian government’s request to have a liquidator take over the restructuring of Baha Mar was delayed to Aug. 19 to give the government enough time to propose a new liquidator. PricewaterhouseCoopers had been put forth by the government for the job, but a conflict of interest arose with China State Construction Engineering — the parent company of the contractor on Baha Mar, with whom the project’s owner and developer has been at odds — according to a Baha Mar spokesman. The government is working to propose another firm.

Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc. received a judge’s approval to keep control of its bankruptcy case into early next year, as well as the right to transfer to Trump Taj Mahal the financing agreements related to slot machines moved from the shuttered Trump Plaza, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross in orders signed on Tuesday approved Trump Entertainment’s request to extend until Dec. 3, 2015, the amount of time it has to file a reorganization plan without the threat of rival proposals, and until Feb. 3, 2016, to solicit votes on such a plan. Without the approvals, those periods would have expired on Aug. 5, and Oct. 6, respectively. While Trump Entertainment already has a plan in place that would put the company in the hands of top lender Carl Icahn, the company is still waiting for the plan to become effective. Part of the deal includes the rejection of collective bargaining agreements with the Taj Mahal’s union workers, which the union is appealing.

Caesars Entertainment Operating Co. was denied permission to pursue a quicker-than-normal appeal of a ruling that allows bondholder lawsuits against its parent to proceed while the operating unit reorganizes in bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The casino giant is racing to overturn the July 22 ruling, in which a judge declined to protect Las Vegas-based Caesars Entertainment Corp. from four lawsuits that the company has said might push it into bankruptcy alongside its main operating subsidiary. Bankruptcy Judge A. Benjamin Goldgar yesterday turned back a request to appeal his decision directly to the federal circuit court, bypassing the district court. “I’m not convinced a direct appeal will expedite anything here,” Goldgar said. Yesterday’s decision makes it more difficult for the company to halt the bondholder litigation before a Manhattan federal judge can consider imposing billions of dollars in liability on the parent. The next option for Caesars may be to ask the district court in Chicago to expedite a ruling on Goldgar’s decision before Aug. 7, the final day for briefing in the Manhattan case.

Trump International Golf Club Puerto Rico filed for bankruptcy as Donald Trump, the billionaire real estate mogul who licensed his name to the property, makes a bid for the White House, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Donald Trump isn’t involved in the operations of the golf course and a “difficult business climate in Puerto Rico” resulted in the owner’s financial woes, said Eric Trump, the presidential candidate’s son and an executive at the Trump Organization. “We have zero financial investment in this course,” Trump said in a phone interview. “This has absolutely nothing to do with Trump. This is a separate owner. We purely manage the golf course.” The Puerto Rico resort, which opened in March 2004 as Coco Beach Golf, renamed itself in 2008 after licensing the use of Trump’s name. Trump, an avid golfer, is affiliated with 17 golf properties worldwide, according to his website. The golf division of Trump Organization Inc. owns and manages most of the courses.