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A judge in Virginia reopened a more than two-year-old case yesterday to consider accusations that the powerful consultancy McKinsey & Company had defrauded his court while advising a bankrupt coal company, the New York Times reported. “These are some of the most serious allegations that I have ever seen,” said Bankruptcy Judge Kevin R. Huennekens of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. The decision to reopen the bankruptcy case of Alpha Natural Resources was the latest in a series of court actions and legislative maneuvers meant to examine whether McKinsey has failed to disclose investments in the entities it helps reorganize — an arrangement that could allow the company to profit off the plan it helped put in place. The request to reopen came from a retired turnaround specialist, Jay Alix, and was supported by the Justice Department’s Office of the U.S. Trustee. McKinsey has denied wrongdoing. “We continue to stand by our disclosures, which have always fully complied with the law, and we are confident that Alix’s fraud claims will be exposed as completely meritless,” the company said. McKinsey already faces similar claims of misconduct from Mr. Alix in the bankruptcy of another energy company, Westmoreland Coal, in Texas.

USA Gymnastics is asking a U.S. Bankruptcy Court to approve $88,000 in holiday bonuses to its employees, including national teams manager Amy White, the Orange County (Calif.) Register reported. White, who allegedly acting on the orders of then USA Gymnastics chief executive Steve Penny removed from the Karolyi Ranch documents relevant to law enforcement investigations of former U.S. Olympic and national team physician Larry Nassar, is one of 40 employees USA Gymnastics wants to pay annual bonuses to. USA Gymnastics, facing dozens of civil suits filed by more than 220 survivors of Nassar’s sexual abuse as well as decertification by the U.S. Olympic Committee, filed for chapter 11 protection with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court’s Southern District of Indiana on Dec. 5.

A group of lenders to bankrupt David’s Bridal Inc. is trying to “extract a last-minute fee concession” from Evercore Group LLC just as the retailer’s time in chapter 11 is about to end, the investment bank says, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Earlier this month Oaktree Capital Management LP, Courage Capital Management LLC, AlbaCore Capital LLP and Deutsche Bank AG told the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., that they objected to “excessive” fees that Evercore is expected to get for its work in the wedding gown retailer’s reorganization. The creditor group, which holds more than half of David’s $481.2 million in term loans, said the $13.1 million that Evercore is set to receive should be halved to $6.5 million. Among other things, the lenders said that Evercore shouldn’t be able to “double dip” by getting a fee both for David’s bankruptcy financing as well as for the financing that the retailer has lined up for its exit from chapter 11.

Weighing a key issue in the bankruptcy of the now-defunct law firm Howrey, a Washington, D.C., appeals court yesterday grappled with competing views on whether dissolved law firms can claim a portion of hourly fees from matters that departed partners brought to a new firm, Law.com reported. A panel at the District of Columbia Court of Appeals — comprised of Chief Judge Anna Blackburne-Rigsby, Associate Judge Corinne Beckwith and Senior Judge Vanessa Ruiz — heard oral arguments pitting Howrey’s bankruptcy trustee, Allan Diamond, against several large law firms that hired former Howrey partners around the time of the firm’s dissolution in 2011. Yesterday’s arguments focused on the so-called unfinished business doctrine, the idea that a defunct law firm’s bills for ongoing matters qualify as assets for the bankrupt firm that can, in turn, be used to repay creditors.