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Dish Network Corp. Chairman Charles Ergen said that LightSquared Inc.’s plan to reorganize will improperly benefit lenders including JPMorgan Chase & Co., which will own all of the wireless-spectrum company’s assets after bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported today. The plan was devised in talks where LightSquared’s controlling shareholder, Philip Falcone, “made it clear that he was interested in using the plan to enrich himself and equity holders,” Ergen said yesterday in a bankruptcy court filing. Falcone stated that he wanted to protect three parties: his investment firm Harbinger Capital Partners LLC, Fortress Investment Group LLC (FIG) and JPMorgan, Ergen said. SP Special Opportunities Inc., an Ergen fund that invested $1 billion in LightSquared debt, made the allegations following an eight-day trial on whether LightSquared can reorganize under a plan that puts Ergen’s debt behind other lenders and equity holders to be repaid.

Texas power company Energy Future Holdings is expected to file for bankruptcy as early as this week as it struggles to pay its hefty debt load of more than $40 billion because of cheap electricity prices, Reuters reported on Friday. The former TXU Corp., which owns 14 power plants, faces a deadline on Thursday, when a 30-day grace period stemming from a missed bond payment will expire, allowing creditors to push the company into default. Energy Future is aiming to file for chapter 11 protection in Delaware ahead of markets opening on Tuesday.

Women's clothing and accessories retailer Coldwater Creek Inc. on Friday reached an accord with its landlords, many of whom had objected to the terms of a deal the company struck with two liquidators, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. To satisfy the landlords, which lease retail shopping center space to Coldwater, the deal was modified so the landlords are not precluded from filing objections later in the case. Though a ruling on the company's proposed bid rules was delayed by Judge Brendan Shannon, the agreement represents a significant step toward an approval. A new hearing to consider the bid rules was scheduled for April 29, at which point Judge Shannon will make a decision on an objection from a newly formed creditors' committee.

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Friday approved a settlement between the U.S. Department of Justice and American Airlines and US Airways that will allow the airlines to proceed with their $11 billion merger, the Legal Times reported on Friday. The agreement will require the companies to give up takeoff and landing slots and gates at several major airports. The slots would be sold to low-cost carriers approved by the government. “The United States has provided a reasonable basis for concluding that the settlement will mitigate the anticompetitive effects of combining two of the remaining legacy airlines,” U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly wrote.

The Federal Communications Commission, which monitors the ownership of media companies that use the agency's licenses, also has eyes on a bankrupt communications company's moves throughout a chapter 11 case, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Many bankruptcies in the communications industry involve the sale of a company or — at the very least — a major ownership shift that ultimately needs the agency's approval. The dynamic can create tension in a telecom bankruptcy case, said a panel of bankruptcy experts and telecommunication lawyers yesterday at ABI’s 32nd Annual Spring Meeting.

Amid word of broad corporate restructuring, workers at ClearEdge Power in South Windsor, Conn., were sent home yesterday, uncertain about what the future holds for their company or their jobs, the Hartford Courant reported today. Briefed yesterday by the company, Town Manager Matthew B. Gallagan said the fuel cell manufacturer will seek some form of bankruptcy protection. Nancy Flagg, president of the Machinist union local that represents nearly a hundred workers at the plant, said her members were sent home early Thursday, told they would be paid through the week, and were not given any more information. ClearEdge Power, headquartered in Oregon and founded in 2003, bought the South Windsor facility from United Technologies Corp. in early 2013 as part of its strategy to focus more on aerospace and building systems. Months later, ClearEdge cut about 170 out of 300 employees.

A Pittsburgh-area man who owns a piece of the Pittsburgh Riverhounds soccer team says majority owner Terrance “Tuffy” Shallenberger Jr. broke his promise to help the team pay off the debt on its overbudget Highmark Stadium, the Wall Street Journal reported today. In court papers, minority owner David Wilke accused Shallenberger of failing to pursue a $4.6 million loan — a promise that he allegedly made when he bought a 51 percent ownership stake in the team last year. Wilke’s lawyers asked a bankruptcy judge yesterday to put an outside financial professional in charge of the bankruptcy cases for the team and its stadium, which are owned by partnerships. An outsider might consider suing Shallenberger for breaking his promise and contributing to the team’s struggles, but that lawsuit likely wouldn’t be brought while he calls the shots in the case, Wilke’s lawyers said in court documents.

Sorenson Communications Inc. hasn't exited chapter 11 protection yet, but already a ratings agency is saying that further restructuring is highly likely, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. "We do not believe that the company is going to be able to earn its way into the amount of debt it has," Moody's analyst Edmond DeForest said on Monday. "In the medium to long term another restructuring — and perhaps another chapter 11 filing — is likely." The communication-services provider for those who are deaf or hearing-impaired received bankruptcy court approval of its restructuring plan in April and said it expects to implement the plan and exit chapter 11 protection in May. The plan shifts the ownership of the company to senior bondholders, but doesn't actually reduce the company's debt load, which DeForest pointed out, is one of the reasons Sorenson filed for bankruptcy.

Business Capital has secured an $8.5 million DIP loan for Pacific Steel Casting, one of the largest independent steel casting companies in the U.S. that makes carbon, low-alloy and stainless steel castings for U.S. and international customers, largely for heavy-duty trucks and construction equipment, ABLAdvisor.com reported yesterday. PSC, a major employer based in Berkeley, Calif., since 1934, is in its fourth generation of ownership. The company recently filed for chapter 11 protection to enable it to restructure its liabilities and remain in operation.

A proposal to pay Brookstone Holdings Corp. executives at least $840,000 in bonuses faces opposition from a federal bankruptcy watchdog, who argues that the company isn't making it difficult enough to earn the extra cash, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. U.S. Trustee Roberta DeAngelis said in a Friday court filing that tying the bonuses to a sale offer struck before Brookstone sought bankruptcy protection doesn't push the executives enough to enhance the company's value in order to earn the bonuses. Brookstone filed for bankruptcy on April 3 with a plan to sell its business to the owner of the Spencer's retail chain for $146.3 million.