Dance Moms, a show on Lifetime TV is in its 6th season. The host is Abby Lee Miller, who is facing 20 counts of fraud due to allegations that she fudged specifics when it came to a bankruptcy filing. If found guilty on all counts, Ms. Miller is facing $5 million in fines and five… Read more »
Posts Tagged: bankruptcy
The Bottom Line
More than 250,000 of Corinthian Colleges’ victims will be able to get out from under massive and fraudulent student loan debts, Education Secretary John King will announce Friday in Boston. Questions: 1. What is the big asterisk that the article refers to? 2. How many schools and how many states are involved in this scam?… Read more »
American Apparel Bankruptcy
American Apparel has been in the middle of a turnaround effort that includes store closings and some layoffs. The company also faces several lawsuits from ousted CEO Dov Charney. Now they face the bankruptcy court. Questions: 1. What were the allegations against previous CEO Charney and what types of financial strains has this put on… Read more »
The Question of Undue Hardship
The bankruptcy case of Janet Roth stirred a debate over the rigidity of the “undue hardship” standard in discharging student loans. This year, President Obama instructed several governmental agencies to review, by Oct. 1, whether the treatment of student loans in bankruptcy should be altered. Questions: 1. How did Ms. Roth prepare for her case?… Read more »
No More SkyMall?
The parent company for SkyMall filed for bankruptcy protection on January 23, 2015. SkyMall was the entertaining catalogue of everything you never thought about buying, but was in the seat pockets of every plane. As Farhi said, “the value added to this grotesque shlock was SkyMall’s enthusiastic descriptive copy. SkyMall’s writers never let on that… Read more »
Living without Water
Thousands of people in bankrupt Detroit haven’t paid their water bills. Even some businesses have skipped payment. How is the bankrupt city dealing with the most basic of problems — getting people to pay their bills? Questions: 1. Detroit is the poster child for shutting off water to customers delinquent on their bills. Even though… Read more »
Warning about Emails
Four former leaders of the law firm, Dewey & LeBoeuf, were charged by New York prosecutors with orchestrating a nearly four-year scheme to manipulate the firm’s books during the financial crisis. In emails they talked openly about “fake income,” “accounting tricks” and their ability to fool the firm’s “clueless auditor.” Questions: 1. Explain the role… Read more »
Chapter 11 for Quiznos
Quiznos, the Denver-based sandwich chain, is preparing to file for bankruptcy in the next few weeks, due to debt and declining sales. Questions: 1. This is not the first time that Quiznos has negotiated with creditors. Explain its out-of-court restructuring deal that occurred two years ago. 2. Assuming that the past debt load was similar… Read more »
The End to Red Ink?
The struggling online company, Groupon, has just announced promotion that will allow them to stay afloat. It is a combination of hardware and software that will allow businesses to accept credit cards at rate far lower than what most merchants are currently paying. Instead of the usual credit card processing fee of between 2% and… Read more »
TaxMasters Trouble
A Houston-based tax advisory firm filed for bankruptcy Sunday, a little more than one day before it was scheduled in court to defend itself against fraud accusations. Best known for a national advertising campaign that made company’s bearded, red-haired founder Patrick Cox a recognizable figure, the company spent about $14 million in national advertising in… Read more »