Bankruptcy

Andrei A. Iakimenko , doing business as Mid-Atlantic Roofing & Siding , also known as Andrei Lakimenko , 726 Durham Pl., Bensalem; Chapter 7; no schedules available. Lehigh Valley Properties Inc. ; Chapter 11; no schedules available. Y-Carbon Inc. , 2495 Boulevard of the Generals, Building B, Norristown; Chapter 11; no schedules available.   GC Berlin L.L.C. , 526 Rt. 73, West Berlin; Chapter 11; no schedules available. SOURCES: The Legal Intelligencer; U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey.

Robert Saul Blau, 61, of Upper Chichester, a bankruptcy lawyer with a wacky sense of humor, died of heart failure at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital on April Fools' Day, one day before his 62d birthday. Known as "Big Bob," Mr. Blau was born in Philadelphia, the son of Evelyn Gellar and Seymour Dore "Big Sie" Blau. As a youngster, he had a penchant for cherry bombs. Yet he managed to earn a diploma from Friends Central High School and went on to graduate from Purdue University, the London School of Economics, and Rutgers Law School.

WIFFLE ball may not be an Olympic sport, but its practitioners are as devoted as a Jamaican bobsled team or hammer throwers in kilts. One of the sport's stars in the '60s was a robust Friends' Central kid named Bob Blau. His prowess with a bat he had painted red and blue and named the KesselKill (after a boy he used to harass with cherry bombs) was described in an article in Sports Illustrated in 1982 by Franz Lidz, a Cheltenham High School grad and Wiffle-ball practitioner who played with Bob Blau and other kids in a back yard in Penn Valley.

Now officially in bankruptcy, the city of Stockton, Calif., must grapple with the hard part of reorganizing its financial affairs: how to share the financial burden equitably among creditors while meeting its massive state pension obligations. At the conclusion of a three-day trial, a judge on Monday formally granted the city Chapter 9 protection, over the objections of creditors who questioned whether it was fair for the city to fully meet its obligations to the state pension system while other debt holders go partly paid.

City bankruptcy challenge nixed SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The city of Stockton, Calif., can continue in bankruptcy after a federal judge Monday rejected legal challenges by Wall Street creditors. The ruling by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Klein means that the city of more than 290,000 residents can continue to seek protection from its creditors as the largest city in America to declare bankruptcy. In his 90-minute "finding of facts," Klein portrayed Stockton has having negotiated in good faith with creditors that insured a city pension bond and issued bonds for a downtown redevelopment, including a sports arena.

Acknowledging the time constraints that Revel AC Inc. faces to get its financial house in order in time for the Shore's summer season, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Judith Wizmur on Wednesday approved a series of first-day motions by attorneys for the casino, including interim approval of $250 million in debtor-in-possession financing. The money is a key part of Revel's reorganization plan to exit from bankruptcy within 60 days, or by May 30. In its 390-page filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Camden late Monday, Revel listed $1.1 billion in assets and $1.5 billion of debt.

While its CEO made public assurances that it had sufficient liquidity to make it through 2013, the debtors of the lavish but flagging Revel casino in Atlantic City scrambled to arrange a bankruptcy filing. The burden of servicing $1.5 billion in debt, amid dismal revenue, was simply too heavy, according to the 390-page petition filed by owner Revel AC Inc. late Monday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Camden. On Page 13 of the voluminous petition, the debtors listed four ways they hoped to improve business: Add a high-end slots area, a new and less-expensive food court, a semi-private VIP players' lounge, and not least, a smoking area.

East Orange, N.J., native Dionne Warwick , 72, has filed for personal bankruptcy in her home state. The five-time Grammy-winning singer of "Do You Know the Way to San Jose" lists total assets of $25,500 and total liabilities of more than $10.7 million, nearly all tax claims by the Internal Revenue Service and the State of California, according to the filing obtained by Reuters. Warwick says she has a monthly income of $20,950 and expenses of $20,940. Warwick's rep, Kevin Sasaki , says Warwick was forced to file due to "negligent and gross financial mismanagement" in the late '80s and '90s.