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LightSquared Says Ergen Debt Purchases Invalidate Lender Deal

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LightSquared said that satellite mogul Charlie Ergen has been "gaming" his recent purchases of hundreds of millions of dollars of the company's debt in an effort to seize control of the wireless company's bankruptcy case, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. In a partially redacted court filing on Monday, lawyers for LightSquared, which is controlled by Phil Falcone's Harbinger Capital Partners, asked a bankruptcy judge to release it from the terms of a settlement it struck with its lenders.

Documents Reveal Milwaukee Bishop Dolans Bankruptcy Plot

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Documents released today in Milwaukee show that Catholic church leaders, including then archbishop Timothy Dolan, deliberately transferred $59 million to a trust in order to protect it from the claims of people who had been sexually abused by local priests, the Huffington Post reported yesterday. In a letter to a Vatican official, Dolan, now cardinal archbishop of the Archdiocese of New York, explains that the move will provide "improved protection of these funds from any legal claim and liability." The Dolan letter, sent in 2007, is among 5,000 pages made public as part of a bankruptcy proceeding in which the $59 million trust is a point of contention for hundreds of people who have filed claims of clergy abuse. The files also include correspondence in which Dolan informs the Vatican that proposals to change statutes of limitations on sex abuse claims could adversely affect the Milwaukee archdiocese.

Bankruptcy Plan Approved for Anna Nicoles Stepson

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The Ninth Circuit on Friday approved the bankruptcy plan of J. Howard Marshall III, a feuding son of the late Texas billionaire who married Anna Nicole Smith late in life, CourthouseNews.com reported on Friday. J. Howard Marshall III's brother, E. Pierce Marshall, had challenged the chapter 11 proceedings before his death in 2006. He claimed that they represented an attempt to dodge payment of a $10 million fraud judgment related the brothers' long battle over their father's estate. Both J. Howard Marshall III and his now-late stepmother, referred to in court papers by her legal name Vickie Lynn Marshall, challenged the will of J. Howard Marshall II after the oilman's death at age 90 in 1995.

Lender Says TMT Group Doesnt Belong in Chapter 11

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Global shipping company TMT Group's chapter 11 case shouldn't be allowed to move forward in U.S. courts, one of its lenders argued on Wednesday in court documents, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. "These cases do not belong in [the] United States, and these cases are not appropriate for Chapter 11 reorganization," said Chinese bank Mega International Commercial Bank Co., which is owed $415.5 million by TMT.

CFTC Sues Former MF Global CEO Corzine over Collapse

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The Commodity Futures Trading Commission sued former MF Global Holdings Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Jon Corzine for failing to properly oversee the company as it spiraled toward bankruptcy in 2011, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The regulator also sued MF Global’s former assistant treasurer Edith O’Brien and said that it reached a settlement with subsidiary MF Global Inc. to pay all funds due to customers and impose a $100 million penalty. That settlement is subject to court approval.

Corzine Defends Bid for MF Global Insurers to Cover Fees

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Lawyers for former MF Global Chief Executive Jon S. Corzine are defending his bid to have the failed brokerage's insurers pay for his legal defense, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Corzine's legal team, along with lawyers for 25 other former MF Global executives and directors, are seeking more cash from insurers to pay for their defense costs in connection with lawsuits and government investigations stemming from the firm's 2011 collapse.

Judge Backs Lehman Trustee over Banks in Repo Dispute

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Bankruptcy Judge James Peck ruled yesterday that repurchase agreements don't qualify for "customer status" in a failed brokerage business, a blow to a group of banks that had sought equal footing with customers in the liquidation of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s broker-dealer, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Judge Peck said that a "contractual obligation" by Lehman to return the securities is "no substitute" for an account statement that includes an inventory of actual securities held by the broker-dealer on the customer's behalf. The repo counterparties, he said, didn't have such statements.

CFTC Looking to Bring Charges Against Corzine over MF Globals Collapse

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Federal regulators are poised to sue Jon S. Corzine over the collapse of MF Global and the brokerage firm’s misuse of customer money during its final days, a blowup that rattled Wall Street and cast a spotlight on Corzine, the former New Jersey governor who ran the firm until its bankruptcy in 2011, the New York Times DealBook blog reported today. In a rare move against a Wall Street executive, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has informed Corzine’s lawyers that it aims to file the civil case as soon as this week without offering him the opportunity to settle, setting up a legal battle that could drag on for years. Without directly linking Corzine to the disappearance of more than $1 billion in customer money, the trading commission will probably blame the chief executive for failing to prevent the breach at a lower rung of the firm, the law enforcement officials said. If found liable, he could face millions of dollars in fines and possibly a ban from trading commodities, jeopardizing his future on Wall Street.

Suzuki Faces Possible Air Bag Recall Complicated by Bankruptcy

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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating whether air bag problems warrant recalling about 205,000 Suzuki vehicles, the 2006-11 Grand Vitara and the 2007-11 SX4, the New York Times reported on Saturday. However, a federal bankruptcy court recently approved Suzuki’s chapter 11 filing. The automaker plans to withdraw from the American car market after it sells off the rest of its inventory. That poses a problem should NHTSA decide a recall is warranted. If an automaker lacks assets, there is no money to pay for repairs. The safety agency says it has received 128 complaints from Suzuki owners about warning lights indicating problems with the passenger-side air bag.

Bankruptcy Judge Approves Newton Estate Deal in Vegas

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The bankruptcy deal is done, Wayne Newton and his family are out, and the majority owner of Newton's former "Casa de Shenandoah" property said on Friday that he still wants to turn the southeast Las Vegas spread into a tourist attraction, the Associated Press reported on Saturday. Newton and his lawyers were absent when Bankruptcy Judge Bruce Markell signed off on a sealed agreement that leaves CSD LLC, headed by investors Lacy and Dorothy Harber, in charge of the 40-acre property several miles southeast of the Las Vegas Strip. Going into the settlement, which was submitted to the judge in May, the Harbers owned 70 percent of CSD LLC. Wayne and Kathleen Newton owned 20 percent. CSD Management LLC, made up of museum project manager Steven Kennedy and his partner, Geneva Clark, had a 10 percent stake.