Judge dismisses NYC OTB bankruptcy case
By Matt Hegarty
A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge has approved a request by the New York City Off-Track Betting Corporation to have its bankruptcy case dismissed, a decision that will effectively shutter the company for good.
In granting the motion, Glenn cast aside the objections of some of OTB’s creditors and a union representing the vast majority of OTB’s 1,300 former employees. Last week, lawyers for the union filed a motion asking the court to reject OTB’s motion for dismissal and instead appoint a trustee that would “investigate and prosecute potential claims against New York tracks for hundreds of millions of dollars of reimbursed payments” made by OTB during its attempt to reorganize under the protection of the bankruptcy court. The union’s lawyers had argued that the payments to the tracks were illegal, but the judge said that the payments were distributed due to statutory requirements.