Law and legal issues

Atlantic City is close to violating one of the terms in a $73 million state loan agreement and is asking for a reprieve.

In a first-of-a-kind verdict, a Miami jury found on Wednesday that Miami and its former budget director, Michael Boudreaux, were guilty of securities fraud for faulty disclosures in connection with three 2009 municipal bond offerings.

Amid a federal corruption probe, Opa-locka, Fla.'s former manager, David Chiverton pleaded guilty to taking pay-offs as a state financial oversight panel attempts to prevent the city from having to file for bankruptcy.

An opponent of the bond financing plan for the American Dream megamall in East Rutherford, N.J. is going to court to block the transaction.

A federal judge in Puerto Rico is allowing a lawsuit that challenges a Gov. Alejandro García Padilla executive order that declared a moratorium on constitutional debt payments after PROMESA was enacted to move forward without a stay.

Surety provider Arch Insurance will take over costs and oversee construction of a stalled minor-league ballpark in Hartford, Conn., Mayor Luke Bronin announced.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is asking a federal judge to allow it to submit an amended complaint that includes much more detailed charges against banker Peter Cannava in connection with an ill-fated private placement for startup video game company 38 Studios.

West Virginia’s attorney general has reached settlements totaling $1.28 million with four firms in a lawsuit that alleged they engaged in bid rigging and price fixing for municipal investments, the latest action in federal and state investigations of bid rigging in the muni market that stretch back more than ten years.

Debt-ridden Dowling College is shutting its doors at end of Wednesday with more than $54 million of bond debt outstanding.

Jacksonville voters agreed to keep a local half-cent sales tax for 30 years to help pay down nearly $3 billion in city pension obligations amid a lawsuit challenging Tuesday’s referendum.

A Florida panel overseeing Opa-locka’s finances learned that the city is in default on $8.6 million in privately placed bank loans and acceleration of the debt is imminent.

Caught up in a dispute between county tax appraisers and the bankrupt owner of a nuclear power plant, a tax-supported hospital district in Glen Rose, Texas, has defaulted on its debt payment, according to a disclosure notice.

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins’ advocacy for two Dallas-based bond firms in a $168 million issue led to accusations of interference in a process designed to avoid political influence.

Amtrak countersued the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority over $30 million for track maintenance between Boston and Rhode Island.

East Cleveland’s plan to avert bankruptcy by merging with neighbor Cleveland is back to the drawing board after terms were rejected by the Cleveland City Council.

The default of some unrated nonprofit project bonds in Michigan and subsequent struggle to recover funds highlights the frustration bondholders sometimes feel in working with trustees, who are tasked with acting as the agents of the investors in distressed and default situations.

A California appeals court's ruling upholding Marin County's pension changes is a positive development for the credit of not only the county, but also California and its other local governments, Moody's Investors Service said Thursday.

Maryland and Federal Transit Administration officials want a federal judge to restore funding for the $5.6 billion Purple Line light rail public-private partnership project that was shut down by court order in early August.

Wells Fargo Securities and Barclays Capital have agreed to pay the Rhode Island Commerce Corp. $25.6 million in a proposed settlement of a lawsuit involving a loan to former videogame company 38 Studios, the state announced Tuesday.

A criminal case alleging two Ramapo, N.Y. officials misled investors and credit rating agencies in connection with municipal bonds would go to trial on Jan. 9 under the timeline the federal judge has put forth for the proceedings.