White-Collar Crime

[wsj-responsive-image P="http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/BN-NE710_JUMIOj_P_20160321182008.jpg" J="http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/BN-NE710_JUMIOj_J_20160321182008.jpg" M="http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/BN-NE710_JUMIOj_M_20160321182008.jpg" caption="Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin speaks during a Wall Street Journal event in Singapore in 2013. Under a plan for an auction, identity-verification company Jumio Inc.  will put Mr. Saverin first in line to take over." credit="Roslan Rahman/AFP/Getty Images" placement="Inline" suppressEnlarge="false" ]

Investors who are brave enough to enter the badly bruised energy markets have a chance to buy some of the operations of major U.S. coal players next week.

Houston-based contract rig operator Vantage Drilling Co. filed for bankruptcy protection late Wednesday night after reaching a deal on a debt-for-equity swap with its lenders and bondholders, The Wall Street Journal reported. Like others in the oil-and-gas industry, Vantage has been hamstrung by stubbornly low oil prices.

Alpha Natural Resources Inc., one of the largest U.S. coal producers, filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday to cut its more than $3 billion debt load, The Wall Street Journal reported. The Bristol, Va., company will likely sell some of its best mines or turn them over to creditors.

Want to place a bet on two Chicago-area horse-racing tracks?

Balmoral Park and Maywood Park are going up for sale as part of a deal to end a legal fight with Illinois riverboat casino operators. The casino operators won an $82 million judgment against the tracks’ owners over an alleged bribery scheme involving disgraced ex-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. The tracks filed for bankruptcy in December to prevent the casinos from trying to collect that money.