Sears’ $175 Million Bankruptcy Deal with Ex-CEO Lampert Approved

The bankrupt estate of Sears Holding Corp. won court approval to settle complex litigation against former CEO Eddie Lampert and other investors for $175 million, helping bring the retail chain’s four-year-old Chapter 11 case to a close.

Resolution of the litigation, which focused on $2 billion worth of pre-bankruptcy transactions engineered by Lampert and his hedge fund ESL Investments Inc., dispels lingering uncertainty about the estate’s ability to pay creditors pursuant to a Chapter 11 plan approved nearly three years ago.

Judge Robert Drain of the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York said he would approve ...