Welcome to WSJ Pro Bankruptcy's Daily Briefing. It's Wednesday, April 29. In today's briefing, a federal judge accepted Purdue Pharma's criminal plea, the last step toward its dissolution. A court-appointed examiner made new allegations about the workings of First Brands Group. And prison medical contractor YesCare faces new litigation alleging that its Texas Two-Step bankruptcy was fraudulent.

A federal judge has sentenced OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma to pay the government $225 million, ending the government’s yearslong criminal case and allowing the pharmaceutical company accused of fueling the opioid epidemic to wrap up a settlement deal to resolve mass lawsuits.

The sentencing Tuesday comes years after Purdue Pharma pleaded guilty to three federal criminal charges related to the marketing and distribution of its powerful opioid painkiller. A separate judge approved the opioid-maker’s $7.4 billion settlement plan in November 2025 as part of bankruptcy proceedings that will dissolve the company and distribute billions of dollars to communities, local governments and individuals affected by the opioid epidemic.

The examiner’s preliminary report alleges that First Brands kept two sets of books to track its accounting and that its founder, Patrick James, used overvalued acquisitions to divert company value to himself. First Brands executives also planned to move certain value from the company to a “clean” European company after the company filed for chapter 11, according to the examiner’s report.

YesCare faces creditor lawsuit after bankruptcy settlement default. Prison healthcare contractor YesCare and its backers face a new creditor lawsuit alleging they executed a sham bankruptcy filing to shield themselves from tort lawsuits and other liabilities.

Trustees for the creditors of former YesCare affiliate Tehum Care Services filed Monday’s lawsuit with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston after the collapse of a $75 million settlement that ended Tehum’s chapter 11 case.

QVC preferred shareholders want voices heard in bankruptcy.  A group of preferred shareholders in bankrupt multimedia retailer QVC Group is asking the court to approve the formation of an official committee of preferred equity holders.

Atlanta-based Cygnus Capital and two other investors say the proposed chapter 11 plan would unfairly siphon off hundreds of millions of dollars of value from parent QVC Group for the benefit of creditors of subsidiary QVC Inc. The preferred group said it would be left with nothing. Cygnus, which invests in distressed private and publicly listed debt and equities, owns 1.2 million preferred shares of QVC Group.

On Monday, the group asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston to approve the appointment of the committee, saying it is “undisputed” that QVC Group isn’t liable for its subsidiaries’ debts.

The only basis for the determination that preferred shareholders should get nothing is “a questionable, at best, and newly created” $400 million claim made by QVC Inc. against QVC Group, the court filing said. The shareholder group said that claim had never previously been disclosed.                                                                                                                                                   —Becky Yerak

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