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Former Anglo Irish Bank Chief Executive David Drumm lied and acted in a fraudulent manner in a bid to be declared bankrupt in the U.S., a Boston court found, dismissing his application as not remotely credible, Reuters reported yesterday. Drumm, who stepped down from the one-time stock market titan in December 2008, a month before it was nationalized, filed for bankruptcy in his new home of Boston two years later, owing his former employer over $11 million from loans he had been given. Bailing out the failed bank Drumm ran from 2005 to 2008, seen as being at the heart of a banking crisis that forced Ireland into a 2010 international bailout, cost taxpayers almost 30 billion euros, close to one-fifth of annual output. Anglo, since liquidated and renamed Irish Bank Resolution Corp. (IBRC) objected together with Drumm's bankruptcy trustee, alleging that the former banker, under oath, knowingly and fraudulently failed to disclose transfers of cash and real estate to his wife. In a 122-page judgement, Bankruptcy Judge Frank Bailey agreed with their objections, saying that Drumm had carefully transferred many hundreds of thousands of euros and dollars before making misrepresentations at every stage of the proceedings.

Farmers and land owners who invested in two small wind farms in southwest Minnesota have filed for bankruptcy reorganization, the Associated Press reported yesterday. Regulatory filings say the 360 owners stand to lose their investment and the wind farms may eventually have to shut down. Minwind says the turbines have needed extensive repairs and it can no longer afford the maintenance. Minwind has also failed to file some paperwork with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission since 2006 and has a $1.9 million liability. Minwind's attorneys have told the government the owners are "unsophisticated" about regulatory matters and should be excused for the filing lapse.

WBH Energy, one of many tiny shale oil and gas producers in Texas, has filed for bankruptcy protection, becoming what may be the first U.S. oil company to do so since crude prices started tumbling six months ago, Reuters reported yesterday. It listed assets and liabilities of $10 million to $50 million in its filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Texas on Sunday. The privately held company, based in Austin, has leases in the Barnett Combo Play of the Fort Worth Basin, which mainly produces gas and is not a significant field in the current U.S. oil boom that has lifted output to the highest level in decades. A 50 percent slide in crude prices since June has prompted many producers to scale back plans for new wells or in some cases halt new drilling.

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One of the nation's largest commercial masonry companies filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to reorganize its debt, including an estimated $5.5 million penalty claimed by its former pension plan, the Tennessean reported today. Nashville-based WASCO Inc. and subsidiary Lovell's Masonry Inc. estimated total assets at roughly $1 million and total liabilities at $9 million. The bankruptcy filing stemmed from WASCO's decision four years ago not to renew its union contract with the Bricklayers & Allied Craftworkers Local Union #5 of Tennessee, which had represented some of the company's employees. That resulted in a withdrawal penalty levied by the Bricklayers & Trowel Trades International Pension Fund. In connection with the chapter 11 filing, WASCO is seeking court approval for a $2.5 million line of credit it secured from Kingston Capital to fund operations during the proceedings. Bankruptcy Judge Randal S. Mashburn is expected to consider that motion today.

Teen fashion retailer Deb Shops on Wednesday won court approval to launch going-out-of-business sales that will culminate with the closing of nearly 300 stores, the Wall Street Journal reported today. An auction on Tuesday ended in a deal with liquidators Hilco Merchant Resources LLC and Gordon Brothers Retail Partners LLC, which will sell off the final inventory, furniture, fixtures and equipment, said Laura Davis Jones, a lawyer for the company. Arguments between the company and the liquidators in advance of the auction ended with an agreement that the liquidators will pay 82 percent of the cost of the inventory on hand, down from the original 98.25 percent they offered. The decrease translates into about $7 million less for creditors of the dissolving retailer, according to Derek Pitts, a financial adviser to Deb Shops. Judge Kevin Gross approved the auction results at a hearing yesterday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. Deb Shops sought chapter 11 protection in December.

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.

Lawyers and consultants have 10 days to justify fees charged during Detroit’s landmark bankruptcy case before Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes decides if the bills are reasonable, the Detroit News reported today. Firms representing the city and retirees charged about $170 million and Judge Rhodes is in the process of determining the reasonableness of fees in the biggest and most expensive municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. On Monday, Rhodes gave the various firms 10 days to defend amounts charged during the case but warned that the comments must be “civil” and “fact-based.”

Friendly's franchisee J&B Restaurant Partners of Long Island II LLC and certain affiliates filed for chapter 11 protection yesterday as part of a pre-negotiated restructuring plan, Reuters reported today. J&B said that the filing will allow it to close unprofitable restaurants, reduce debt and quickly emerge from bankruptcy. The owner of 37 Friendly's restaurants in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut expects to exit bankruptcy over the next six months and to remodel at least 11 restaurants over three years. The company said that GE Capital Franchise Finance will provide a debtor-in-possession financing to enable normal operation. J&B listed assets of about $500,000 to $1 million and liabilities of $10 million to $50 million.

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.

William Nicklin’s troubled investment firm NSB Advisors LLC has filed for bankruptcy protection with a plan to sell its assets to Emancipation Management LLC, the Wall Street Journal reported today. NSB, whose assets under management were more than $1.2 billion in 2012, filed for chapter 11 protection on Monday after a 2012 dispute with its custodian broker led to a flight of clients. In an affidavit filed with the court, Nicklin placed much of the blame for the Fishkill, N.Y.-based brokerage’s financial woes on its former custodian, C.L. King & Associates Inc. About three years ago, Nicklin said, C.L. King told NSB that it needed to reduce its clients’ collective balances by $231 million for regulatory reasons. According to Nicklin, C.L. King also sent letters to his biggest clients urging them to move their accounts. A lawyer for C.L. King, Richard Roth of the Roth Law Firm LLC in New York, denied Nicklin’s allegations. NSB now has just a fraction of its former customers — 410 accounts and assets under management of approximately $143 million, Nicklin said.