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A group of Caesars Entertainment Corp.’s senior bondholders is holding out for more money, threatening to make it difficult for the casino owner to obtain enough creditor votes to make its bankruptcy plan a reality, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Investors who say they own $1.6 billion in Caesars first-lien notes hired law firm Debevoise & Plimpton LLP to negotiate for better terms, said My Chi To, a partner at the New York-based firm. Caesars has five days before a deadline to win more support from bondholders for a restructuring agreement it struck with some creditors last month. The agreement with investors including Elliott Management Corp. and Pacific Investment Management Co. requires the company to sign at least 60 percent — or $3.8 billion — of first-lien bondholders by Jan. 12 onto its plan to restructure Caesars Entertainment Operating Co. To win court approval for a related bankruptcy reorganization proposal, Caesars would need support from creditors holding at least two-thirds of the bonds.

A Delaware judge yesterday ordered Siga Technologies Inc., a supplier of an antiviral smallpox drug to the U.S. strategic stockpile, to pay PharmAthene Inc $113.1 million in damages in a licensing dispute, Reuters reported yesterday. The Delaware Court of Chancery on Aug. 8 ruled that PharmAthene is entitled to damages from Siga for its failure to execute a license agreement related to its main antiviral smallpox drug, Tecovirimat. Wednesday's ruling determined those damages, which are to include as-yet unspecified prejudgment interest, according to the order entered by Vice Chancellor Donald Parsons. PharmAthene said in a statement the total final award, including interest and reimbursement of a portion of PharmAthene's attorneys' and expert witness fees, will top $190 million. Siga said in 2011 that it won a five-year U.S. government contract for 2 million doses of the drug, in a deal that could be worth as much as $2.8 billion. In September, the company filed for bankruptcy, which would bar PharmAthene from enforcing the order. Siga said that its bankruptcy was necessary to allow it to keep operating while it appealed the August ruling.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and other financial institutions won court approval of a settlement with MF Global Holdings Ltd. bondholders who blamed the banks for the bankrupt company’s losses after its brokerage unit failed, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The underwriters agreed to pay $74 million to resolve claims over misstatements and omissions in offering documents, according to a letter sent by lawyers from both sides to U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero, who on Jan. 5 dismissed claims against the settling companies. MF Global filed the eighth-largest U.S. bankruptcy, with $41 billion in assets on Oct. 31, 2011, after making bets on European sovereign debt and getting margin calls. Other underwriters in the agreement include units of Deutsche Bank AG, Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. Jeff Ross, a lawyer representing some of the funds, said that his clients settled separately and alongside a class of bondholders, without specifying the terms.

Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP 's former chief operating officer has reached a deal with the defunct law firm's bankruptcy advisers, making him the fourth and final ex-executive to settle civil Dewey-related claims, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. The terms of the settlement, reached between Dewey's liquidating trust and ex-COO Dennis D'Alessandro, weren't disclosed in a filing made on Monday in bankruptcy court. The suit against D'Alessandro sought the return of $9.3 million in salary, bonuses and other compensation that he received from 2008 until the firm's 2012 collapse.

Puerto Rico appealed a court ruling that Doral Financial Corp., the holding company for the commonwealth’s second-largest mortgage lender, is entitled to a $229.9 million tax refund from the cash-strapped island’s government, Bloomberg News reported on Saturday. The San Juan-based financial firm, which hasn’t posted an annual profit since 2005, won an order requiring Puerto Rico’s Treasury Department to refund the full amount it claimed. Puerto Rico’s credit rankings were dropped to speculative grade in February by the three largest credit-rating companies as concerns rose on whether it can repay $73 billion in debt.

The trustee liquidating Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s brokerage unit has agreed with Pacific Investment Management Co. unit to resolve $187.4 million of the money management firm's customer claims, likely at a fraction of their estimated value, Reuters reported on Friday. According to papers filed on Wednesday in bankruptcy court, Pimco will no longer be able to pursue customer claims, and will instead receive $146.6 million of general unsecured creditor claims against the brokerage, Lehman Brothers Inc. The brokerage's estate would pay up to $20 million of cash on the claims, and $25.6 million of disputed collateral would be returned to Pimco clients. Another $4.9 million of collateral would be returned to the brokerage's estate.

Two hedge funds are suing Delphi Automotive PLC accusing the auto-parts supplier of failing to pay up to $300 million promised to creditors as part of its bankruptcy plan, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. In a lawsuit filed on Monday in bankruptcy court, Solus Alternative Asset Management and Angelo, Gordon & Co. say that Delphi is about to renege on commitments it made under its plan to exit bankruptcy in 2009. The funds asked the court to reopen Delphi's bankruptcy case, which has been largely dormant since the end of last year. The breach-of-contract suit centers on the terms of Delphi's chapter 11 plan, which called for unsecured creditors to begin receiving up to $300 million once $7.2 billion had been doled out to owners of the reorganized Delphi. Solus and Angelo are among several distressed-debt investors that bought up debt in the "old" Delphi. The funds say that in the suit that Delphi is close to reaching that $7.2 billion threshold but that Delphi denies that is the case.

Bankruptcy Judge Gloria Burns said yesterday that she would approve a $26 million settlement between Atlantic City and the Revel Casino Hotel that will provide much-needed cash for New Jersey's struggling gambling hub and a tax cut for the shuttered gambling complex, Reuters reported yesterday. Judge Burns also indicated she would approve a request to increase the size of Revel's bankruptcy loan from Wells Fargo to $61 million to pay for the tax settlement. The settlement cut Revel's tax bill by $7 million, and in return the casino agreed to drop its legal fight to reduce its property taxes. The defunct casino, which closed in September, owed the city approximately $33 million in taxes, interest and penalties. Tax collectors failed to garner any bids at an auction of the casino's tax debt earlier in December, setting the stage for negotiations to reduce the casino's tax bill.

In the latest settlement struck by Howrey trustee Allan Diamond, a group of former Howrey leaders and a law firm that initially advised the defunct firm on its bankruptcy have agreed to pay $1.85 million, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The deal will see Wiley Rein LLP (whose restructuring lawyers are, in an unrelated development, separating from the firm) contribute $1 million to Howrey’s coffers, according to documents filed Monday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in San Francisco. It will also see the firm’s onetime dissolution committee, including former chairman Robert Ruyak, chip in another $850,000. The result of more than a year of negotiations, the settlement still requires a court’s approval.

The New Hampshire company that fell into bankruptcy following a failed deal with Apple Inc. is asking to pay millions in bonuses to its senior executives, the Wall Street Journal reported today. GT Advanced Technologies Inc. says it needs to keep the identities of those in line for bonuses secret to keep its business from being damaged. Less than a year after announcing it would transform itself from a solar-power and sapphire-producing-equipment maker to a maker of smartphone screen material for Apple, GT filed for chapter 11 protection, blaming Apple. Apple has denied it was responsible for GT’s collapse. Pay enhancement is necessary to motivate “the key drivers” in GT’s bid to restore its business in bankruptcy, lawyers said. Court filings outlining the bonus proposal say that GT’s stock, once a major component of executive compensation, is no longer good for motivating performance by company leaders.