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Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said that regulators’ longstanding policy of allowing Wall Street firms to settle lawsuits without requiring them to admit to wrongdoing may undercut the regulators’ ability to crack down on financial fraud, the Wall Street Journal reported today. “[I]f a regulator reveals itself to be unwilling to take large financial institutions all the way to trial—either because it is too timid or because it lacks resources—the regulator has a lot less leverage in settlement negotiations and will be forced to settle on terms that are much more favorable to the wrongdoer,” Warren wrote in a letter to the heads of the Justice Department, Federal Reserve and Securities and Exchange Commission. In her letter yesterday, Warren asked the heads of the three agencies for copies of any research and analysis they have performed on the costs to the public of settling an enforcement action without requiring an admission of guilt. She said that a fourth regulator, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, already told her it does not any internal research or analysis on the matter.

A group of unsecured creditors has struck a deal with Johnson Controls Inc. to settle disputes stemming from the auto-parts maker's thwarted bid for A123 Systems Inc.'s assets, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. The deal brings an extra $200,000 in cash into the bankrupt entity's coffers and brings to an end months of disputes.

The House Financial Services Oversight and Investigations subcommittee will hold a hearing today at 10 a.m. ET titled “Who Is Too Big to Fail: Does Title II of the Dodd-Frank Act Enshrine Taxpayer-Funded Bailouts?” The witness list includes Prof. David A. Skeel of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, Dr. John B. Taylor of Stanford University, Josh Rosner of Graham Fisher & Co. and Michael Krimminger of Cleary Gottlieb. For more information, please click here: http://financialservices.house.gov/calendar/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=33…

A report by a court-appointed independent examiner into dealings between Residential Capital LLC and the bankrupt lender's parent, Ally Financial Inc., has been filed under seal, a lawyer for the examiner said yesterday, Reuters reported. The report is expected to clarify if ResCap creditors are owed up to $25 billion by Ally for allegedly stripping ResCap of valuable assets before it filed for bankruptcy. The report will be unsealed if ResCap creditors and Ally fail to reach a settlement agreement by 11 a.m. Tuesday, the bankruptcy court was told yesterday. ResCap creditors have alleged they could be owed billions of dollars by Ally because it stripped valuable assets from ResCap prior to its bankruptcy.

Vodka seller Central European Distribution Corp., headed by Russian billionaire Roustam Tariko, won court approval of its pre-packaged restructuring plan a little more than a month after filing for bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Sontchi approved the Warsaw, Poland-based company’s reorganization plan that cuts debt by about $665 million at a hearing today in Wilmington, Delaware, according to court documents. The company expects that it will be able to close on the restructuring transactions on or about May 31, according to the statement. Regulatory agencies in CEDC’s key markets of Poland, Russia and Ukraine already have given their approvals to the deal.

Arcapita Bank BSC, an Islamic-compliant fund manager, will consider a revised offer for a bankruptcy-exit loan from Fortress Credit Corp. to compete with a proposal from Goldman Sachs International, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Both loan offers of $350 million would fund Arcapita’s exit from chapter 11 protection, Fortress said in court papers filed yesterday. Fortress said that it had been in talks since last year to provide an exit loan to Arcapita and was disappointed that the company and its creditors’ committee chose the Goldman Sachs offer.

A bankruptcy court judge yesterday approved the Revel Casino's chapter 11 reorganization plan that wipes out most of its debt and provides new money for it to operate, the Associated Press reported yesterday. Bankruptcy Judge Judith Wizmur approved Revel's plan to grant an 82 percent ownership stake to lenders in return for canceling $1.2 billion worth of debt. Revel's annual interest payments will fall from $102 million to $46 million. The casino plans to put money that previously went toward debt to operations now. Before filing for chapter 11 protection in March, Revel had $1.52 billion in debt. Upon its exit from bankruptcy court, which could happen within days, it will have $272 million in debt.

Peabody Energy Corp. is fighting former unit Patriot Coal Corp.'s attempt to bolster its assertion that its 2007 spinoff was fraudulent by gaining access to documents from Duff & Phelps and Morgan Stanley, which served as advisers on the transaction, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. In two separate court objections, Peabody is requesting that Patriot be denied information that is unrelated to the 2007 spinoff or would fall under attorney-client privilege or other similar protections. Peabody is also asking that no documents be produced by either firm related to its arrangements with American Electric Power or that would disclose information to the United Mine Workers of America until it enters a confidentially protective order.

The House Financial Services Oversight and Investigations subcommittee will hold a hearing on Wednesday at 10 a.m. ET titled “Who Is Too Big to Fail: Does Title II of the Dodd-Frank Act Enshrine Taxpayer-Funded Bailouts?” The witness list includes Prof. David A. Skeel of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, Dr. John B. Taylor of Stanford University, Josh Rosner of Graham Fisher & Co. and Michael Krimminger of Cleary Gottlieb. For more information, please click here: http://financialservices.house.gov/calendar/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=33…

One Eastman Kodak Co. shareholder is fighting the company's chapter 11 reorganization plan that would see the company’s stock effectively wiped out, the Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle reported on Saturday. In a letter filed in bankruptcy court last week, Florida shareholder and attorney Matthew Glassman argues that shareholders need their own official standing in Kodak’s chapter 11 case and that Kodak’s reorganization plan “is a blatant attempt to rob both the shareholders and unsecured debt and bond holders of money and shares that are rightfully theirs.” Kodak already is facing a possible challenge to its bankruptcy emergence plans from a cadre of retirees looking to get official standing in Kodak’s bankruptcy. The bankruptcy court has scheduled a hearing for June 20 on a motion asking for creation of an official committee to represent the interests of retirees who had been receiving pension payments from a pair of unfunded retirement programs Kodak axed when it filed for bankruptcy in January 2012.