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A bankruptcy judge said yesterday that he would lift the bankruptcy law’s automatic stay provision to allow an Ohio judge to issue his decision on whether a receiver should take control of the deep-sea exploration company Columbus Exploration LLC, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. It would be a “terrible waste of judicial effort to deny the Ohio judge” a chance to render his decision on the receivership bid, Bankruptcy Judge Peter J. Walsh at a court hearing yesterday. The decision is a win for an investor group that has been sparring with fugitive treasure hunter Tommy Thompson for years. The investors—which include the company that owns the Columbus Dispatch newspaper and Ohio businessman Donald Fanta—want a receiver named to take over Columbus Exploration and another Thompson affiliate called Recovery Ltd. Partnership. In 1988, Thompson, an engineer and undersea explorer, began salvaging gold from the wreck of the SS Central America, a U.S. mail steamer that went down off the North Carolina coast in 1857 with 18 tons of gold. By 1990, Thompson had recovered more than three tons of gold, silver and other treasures, estimated to be worth at least $100 million. Thompson’s whereabouts are unknown. He disappeared last year after an Ohio judge issued an order for his arrest for failing to appear in court. (Subscription required.)

Arcapita Bank said that an energy company's fraud claim stemming from Arcapita's sale of Texas natural-gas assets should be pushed behind the claims of other creditors, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. In a court filing last week, Arcapita took on Tide Natural Gas Storage LP's contention that Arcapita's bankruptcy plan shouldn't be approved by a judge because of $70 million it says it is owed.

The House Judiciary Committee today at 10 a.m. ET will mark up H.R. 982, the “Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency (FACT) Act of 2013.” The bill, introduced by Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Texas), aims to amend title 11 of the United States Code to require the public disclosure by trusts established under section 524(g) of such title, of quarterly reports that contain detailed information regarding the receipt and disposition of claims for injuries based on exposure to asbestos. To read a copy of the bill, please click here: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-113hr982ih/pdf/BILLS-113hr982ih.pdf

An effort by creditors to force defunct investment vehicle TPG Troy into bankruptcy has fallen flat after a judge dismissed the case, citing ongoing litigation over the creditors' claims, Reuters reported yesterday. Tossing out the chapter 7 proceeding on May 9, Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn said that there was a "bona fide dispute" over whether TPG Troy, a vehicle of private equity giant TPG Capital, owes the creditors money. The unconventional liquidation was filed on TPG Troy's behalf by a group of hedge fund creditors led by SPQR Capital, which claimed to be owed 111 million euros ($143 million) stemming from TPG Troy's investments in TIM Hellas, a Greek telecommunications company. In February, TPG Troy sought to have the case dismissed, arguing that it could not be in bankruptcy because it had wound down its operations in 2007. It pointed to more than 10 lawsuits filed against it by the creditors over the same alleged debts, saying that the bankruptcy was the latest in a line of creditor attempts at "forum shopping."

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.

Almost five years after Lehman Brothers Holding Inc. filed for bankruptcy and set off the global financial crisis, managers of the bank’s estate are demanding millions of dollars from retirement homes, colleges and hospitals, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. After selling most of its assets, Lehman now says that it was shortchanged by scores of nonprofits that were forced to pay to exit derivatives that were unwound after the firm filed for chapter 11 protection. The Buck Institute for Research on Aging in Novato, California, gave Lehman $2 million in October 2008 to cancel a swap contract used to manage fluctuating interest rates. Lehman says that it wants $12.1 million more and has assessed at least an additional $4.7 million in interest, the research center said in its most recent financial statement. The amount Lehman is seeking is more than half of what Buck spent last year researching Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other diseases.

Creditors of bankrupt Residential Capital LLC are nearing a deal to settle billions of dollars of claims against the mortgage lender's parent, Ally Financial Inc., a development that prompted a delay in a much-anticipated report on ResCap's failure, Reuters reported on Friday. A mediator overseeing talks between Ally and ResCap creditors asked that an independent examiner postpone his report on claims that Ally should be held responsible for up to $25 billion of ResCap liabilities, according to a court filing. That report was expected to be published last week, but the examiner's attorney said in a court filing on Friday that the report will now be published today. Creditors of ResCap are pursuing billions of dollars of cash that Ally had raised by selling its international business and planned to use to repay the remaining $11 billion of a U.S. government bailout.

The trustee liquidating Peregrine Financial Group Inc. is weighing whether to sue two banks that handled accounts for the defunct brokerage firm, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Trustee Ira Bodenstein sees "a number of viable claims" against U.S. Bank and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., though no decision has yet been made to pursue the banks, according to a court document filed on Wednesday.

A report to be released today could embolden creditors of bankrupt mortgage lender Residential Capital LLC to pursue billions of dollars of cash that its parent, Ally Financial Inc., had planned to use to repay a U.S. government bailout, Reuters reported today. The report by a court-appointed examiner deals with allegations of improper activity before the ResCap bankruptcy, including claims that Ally Bank was stripped from ResCap. ResCap creditors have said that Ally, which is about three-quarters owned by the U.S. government, could be on the hook for up to $25 billion owed to them by ResCap. Former bankruptcy judge Arthur Gonzalez was appointed by a bankruptcy court last year to examine the pre-bankruptcy deals between Ally, ResCap, Ally investor Cerberus Capital Management LP and others. Gonzalez also investigated the negotiations that led to Ally's initial proposed settlement, which was rejected by ResCap creditors.

Citigroup Inc. has sued Barclays Plc to recover more than $141 million for providing foreign exchange services to a unit of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. soon after Lehman's bankruptcy, Reuters reported yesterday. The complaint filed on Monday in U.S. District Court related to Citigroup's role in the Continuous Linked Settlement system, which was designed to ensure that foreign exchange trades are completed. Citigroup said that it sought to stop settling trades for Lehman's brokerage unit on Sept. 17, 2008, two days after Lehman went bankrupt, because it was incurring large losses. But Barclays was then in the process of buying Lehman's U.S. broker-dealer business, and, according to the complaint, urged Citigroup to keep providing the services. It also agreed to indemnify it for losses between Sept. 17-19, 2008.