A long-running battle between turnaround pioneer Jay Alix and global consultancy McKinsey & Co. ended Tuesday, when a bankruptcy judge sanctioned a settlement in the midst of a more than year-long trial that turned virtual during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Houston federal bankruptcy judge David Jones, who has been overseeing the Westmoreland Coal bankruptcy case, approved a settlement between McKinsey and the U.S. Trustee, a Justice Department watchdog, in which the consultancy agreed to forgo $8 million in fees it would have received for representing Westmoreland as its advisor. McKinsey agreed to withdraw its application to represent Westmoreland in bankruptcy instead of continuing with the trial that delved into its bankruptcy advisory practices, which Alix alleged were illegal.