A federal judge ordered a bankrupt company owned by O.J. Simpson’s children to turn over any copies of Simpson’s canceled book, “If I Did It,” in an attempt to thwart any unauthorized distribution or dissemination, EURWeb.com reported yesterday. Lorraine Brooke Associates, which names Simpson’s daughter, Arnelle, as its head, retains the rights to the book, in which the former running back explains how he might have committed the killings of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. Bankruptcy Judge A. Jay Cristol ordered that all copies of the book, including excerpts, summaries and manuscripts, be turned over to prevent Simpson from profiting from any future deals regarding the book, which publisher HarperCollins canceled following public outrage.

The House of Representatives passed legislation to tighten federal oversight of the two biggest buyers of home mortgages, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Associated Press reported yesterday. The House voted 313 to 104 in favor of the measure to provide stricter federal supervision of the two government-sponsored companies, which together finance or guarantee more than three-quarters of the home mortgages in the country. The legislation would also create a housing aid fund — worth as much as $3 billion — to be financed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. However, the bill could lose the support of the Bush administration because of a provision trimming the authority of federal regulators. Multibillion-dollar accounting scandals at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac brought demands for tighter government supervision and cuts in the companies’ huge mortgage holdings, now worth a combined $1.5 trillion.

Subprime lender New Century Financial Corp. filed a motion Wednesday asking the court overseeing its bankruptcy to allow it to provide “adequate protection” to various counterparties of its master repurchase agreements in order to avoid possible adversary proceedings, Bankruptcy Law360 reported yesterday. New Century funded its pre-petition operations mostly through these master repurchase loan agreements with various financial services companies, and now the bankrupt lender fears those parties will come after it through post-petition litigation. New Century said that shortly before it filed for bankruptcy on April 2, the parties with which it had entered into master agreements took action to part ways with the beleaguered lender. The financial services companies made margin calls of more than $150 million that New Century was not able to repay at the time, the motion said. The companies then started to restrict the loans and ultimately stopped providing funding for the loans, declaring New Century in default.

Automotive Professionals, one of the country’s largest auto warranty claims companies, has suspended claims payments on 300,000 contracts sold nationwide, the Houston Chronicle reported today. “Legally, I probably have no obligation to these customers, but I’m in a business that the premier thing is customer service,” said Ramsay Gillman, president of an auto dealership chain in South Texas, who is still honoring repairs. He has sued in Houston federal court seeking payment from the company’s insurers, including Marathon Financial Insurance Co., an Illinois-based risk retention group.For three years ending in 2005, Marathon underwrote Automotive Professionals policies, including those sold by Gillman during that period. From 2002 to 2005, Bryan said, Marathon underwrote 320,000 contracts for Automotive Professionals, mostly in Texas, Florida, Nevada and Arizona.

Motorola Inc. will pay $25 million to settle accusations that it knew or should have known that Adelphia Communications Corp. was misusing a marketing agreement between the two companies to falsify its earnings, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The Securities and Exchange Commission said that the payment includes the return of $18 million in improperly earned funds plus $7 million in interest. Motorola, Schaumburg, Ill., settled without admitting or denying wrongdoing. Under the 2001 agreement, Adelphia paid money to Motorola that was immediately returned to Adelphia in the form of marketing support payments. No marketing was done under the agreement, and Adelphia used the payments to falsify its earnings in 2000 and 2001, according to the SEC.

The number of German companies filing for bankruptcy in February fell more than 15 percent compared with a year ago, even as consumer bankruptcies rose more than 22 percent, the Associated Press reported today. According to the preliminary figures of Germany’s Federal Statistics Office, 2,340 German companies filed for insolvency in February, down 15.1 percent from the 2,756 that did so in February 2006. The number of consumer bankruptcies, however, rose 22.2 percent to 8,207 in February, compared with 6,717 in February 2006. The combined bankruptcies of businesses, consumers and self-employed businesses rose 10.3 percent to 13,118 in February, compared with 11,889 in the same month last year. The agency said that total claims by creditors amounted to euro2.7 billion ($3.68 billion), up 15.5 percent from euro2.3 billion a year earlier.

Spurred by the collapse of the subprime mortgage market, the leading bond rating agencies are beginning to crack down on what they see as risky lending practices in commercial real estate, the New York Times reported today. Low interest rates and an abundance of investment capital have led to prosperous times for buyers and sellers of office buildings, hotels and other income-producing property. Buildings have traded at record prices and loan terms have become increasingly generous, with many buyers putting little or no equity into the deals. Like residential loans, commercial mortgages are pooled and packaged into bonds that are sliced up into portions carrying different degrees of risk. According to Moody’s, there were $769.6 billion in commercial mortgage-backed securities at the end of last year, representing 26.1 percent of all outstanding commercial mortgages, including apartment buildings. The agencies that rate these bonds on behalf of bond dealers have issued warnings in the past, but last month they sounded a new note of urgency, saying for the first time that they would adjust their ratings to reflect their concerns.