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Mt. Gox Bankruptcy Trustee Outlines Liquidation Schedule

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Creditors of bankrupt Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox have until Nov. 28 to file proof of their claims, according to a notice from its trustee, PCWorld.com reported today. Attorney Nobuaki Kobayashi, the court-appointed bankruptcy trustee for the Tokyo exchange, posted a notice on the Mt. Gox website Wednesday with details of the liquidation procedure. Creditor claims will be examined starting Feb. 25, 2015, nearly a year to the day after Mt. Gox went bust with liabilities of ¥6.5 billion ($63.6 million). Creditors could include hundreds of thousands of users who deposited bitcoin with the exchange. When it collapsed, Mt. Gox said nearly half a billion dollars’ worth of bitcoin was unaccounted for and that hackers had exploited a software problem.

Brookstone Creditors to Start Voting on Restructuring Plan

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Brookstone Holdings Corp.'s creditors can begin voting on a bankruptcy-exit plan that relies on the sale of the specialty retailer at an upcoming auction, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. The voting follows the Monday approval of Brookstone's disclosure statement by Bankruptcy Judge Brendan Shannon. Brookstone filed for chapter 11 protection in early April with a $146.3 million offer from an affiliate of Spencer Spirit Holdings Inc.

Judge Allows Former MF Global Executives to Tap Additional Legal Defense Funds

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Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn is allowing Jon Corzine and other former insiders of collapsed brokerage MF Global to tap another $10 million of insurance funds to defend lawsuits accusing them of hastening the firm's downfall, Reuters reported yesterday. Judge Glenn granted the request from Corzine and the others at a court hearing, raising to $40 million from $30 million the cap on what the defendants can draw. Judge Glenn authorized roughly $3.7 million more to pay the legal fees of defendants no longer involved in the cases. However, Judge Glenn was clearly irked at the request, saying he had expected the initial $30 million to cover most of the litigation.

Court Approves Sbarros Bankruptcy Exit Plan

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Sbarro Inc., the pizza chain often found in shopping mall food courts, received a U.S. bankruptcy judge's approval yesterday to move forward with a restructuring plan that will allow it to end its second bankruptcy in three years, Reuters reported yesterday. Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn signed an order approving a plan by Sbarro to cut its $148 million debt load by more than 85 percent, to about $20 million. Founded in 1956, the Melville, N.Y.-based Sbarro had tried to boost sales by revamping recipes to entice diners who increasingly favor "fast casual" chains such as Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. and Panera Bread Co. But an "unprecedented decline in mall traffic" and an "unsustainable" balance sheet necessitated a restructuring, including the closure of hundreds of restaurants, the company said in court papers when it filed for bankruptcy in March. Sbarro entered chapter 11 with a pre-packaged restructuring plan that already had the backing of many of its creditors. In a parallel restructuring option, it also explored auctioning its assets but, drawing no bidders, went ahead with the prepackaged restructuring.

U.S. Trustee Zeroes in on Bankruptcy Fees in Freedom Industries Case

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U.S. Trustee Judy A. Robbins wants the attorneys and advisers working on Freedom Industries Inc.'s chapter 11 case to temporarily forgo some of their fees until it's determined how much the company will need to pay to clean up the West Virginia chemical spill, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Robbins says Freedom's bankruptcy case, filed shortly after chemicals from a Freedom-owned site tainted the water supply of 300,000 West Virginians, is at "high" risk for significant legal fees and environmental cleanup obligations. As a result, Robbins is asking the bankruptcy court to consider directing Freedom's legal and other advisers to hold off from requesting full payment of their fees and expenses until further along in the chapter 11 case.

LightSquared Keeps Burning Cash

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Philip Falcone's LightSquared blew through another $55.4 million last month, bringing the company's total losses to $1.3 billion since it filed for bankruptcy two years ago, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. In a monthly operating report filed in bankruptcy court on Thursday, LightSquared again attributed a bulk of the losses to interest payments on its debt. In April, those payments totaled $36.9 million, bringing the amount of interest paid to $788.2 million since the wireless venture's May 2012 Chapter 11 filing. LightSquared's case had another major glitch last week when Judge Shelley Chapman threw out its restructuring plan, calling it a "sophisticated shell game" engineered by Falcone to be too unfair to Dish Network Corp. Chairman Charlie Ergen, the largest holder of LightSquared bank debt. She separately ruled that Ergen sidestepped the rules when he bought the debt, and that some of his claims should be placed below those of other creditors. In a strongly worded reading, Judge Chapman implored the lawyers and advisers on both sides to reach a settlement by May 27, or she will order mediation. The judge cited the cost of the case as the reason she read her ruling aloud, rather than wait the weeks it would take to finalize a written order.

Anesthesia Healthcare Partners Files for Bankruptcy

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Anesthesia Healthcare Partners Inc. has filed for bankruptcy protection while in a court battle with one of the country's biggest medical-insurance companies, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Officials put Anesthesia Healthcare into chapter 11 protection on Thursday in Atlanta, stating that the company faces more than $10 million in debt. Earlier this year, Anesthesia Healthcare sued Cigna Corp. to recover about $17 million it says it is owed for services it provided to thousands of Cigna-covered patients, according to papers filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta.

Two Iowa Nursing Homes Seek Bankruptcy Protection

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Two Iowa nursing homes run by a man who once declared he was a candidate for governor have filed for bankruptcy protection, the Associated Press reported today. All-American Restorative Care of Washington, Iowa, and All-American Care Center in Muscatine, Iowa, are owned by Jerry Rhoads, who claims $7.2 million in debt and $889,000 in assets including two homes each worth more than $360,000 and $35,000 in equity in a Mexican beach resort timeshare. Potential liabilities are wrongful-death claims filed against an Arkansas facility Rhoads once operated. The 90-bed Washington nursing home has been on the federal government's list of the nation's most troubled care facilities for 22 months. After state investigators looked into a June 2013 death at the facility, the federal government temporarily banned the home from accepting any new Medicaid-dependent residents and began imposing daily fines against the home until it was able to show compliance with all regulations.

Dewey Sues Ex-Partners Abroad for 22 Million

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Nine of Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP 's former international partners are the latest targets of clawback litigation in the defunct firm's bankruptcy case, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Dewey's liquidation trustee filed suits on Tuesday in bankruptcy court seeking the return of $22 million paid to the partners when the firm was allegedly insolvent. None of the lawyers named in the suits signed on to a $70.4 million settlement struck with the Dewey estate in 2012.

Judge Approves Kodak Cleanup Trust

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The settlement of Eastman Kodak Co. environmental claims, including creation of a trust to oversee environmental work at Eastman Business Park, was given final approval on Tuesday, the Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat & Chronicle reported yesterday. Bankruptcy Judge Allan Gropper, who presided over Eastman Kodak Co.'s chapter 11 case, signed an order creating an independent trust that will assume legal liability for existing environmental problems at the business park. Kodak will endow the trust with $49 million to pay for study, monitoring and cleanup at the park, while New York state has promised to supply an additional $50 million if needed. The two parties would split any costs beyond that. Federal environmental officials had balked at the agreement but later withdrew objections. Local, state and company officials said that the creation of a trust to ensure environmental issues were dealt with was key to further redevelopment of the park.