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Judge OKs bonus plan linked to Revel auction

A bankruptcy judge on Wednesday approved a bonus plan that could pay a total of $1.75 million to executives of the Revel casino and hotel, which is scheduled for auction next week.

A bankruptcy judge on Wednesday approved a bonus plan that could pay a total of $1.75 million to executives of the Revel casino and hotel, which is scheduled for auction next week.

"I'm satisfied that it's an incentive plan and good for the debtor," Chief Judge Gloria M. Burns said at a court hearing in Camden.

Burns allowed Revel to keep details of the incentive plan under seal, including the number of executives and the sales-price thresholds that would trigger payouts to executives.

To protect the bidding process, Revel lawyer John K. Cunningham told the judge, it is important to keep those triggers out of the public eye.

"We're very concerned that bidders are going to try to game their bids based on what they see" in those triggers, said Cunningham, a lawyer with White & Case L.L.P.

The legal representative for the U.S. trustee in the Revel bankruptcy, Mitchell Hausman, had objected to an earlier version of the incentive plan because it was partly based on how well managers could budget targets that they might have had a hand in setting. Now the bonus plan is based entirely on the sales price.

Bids for Revel, which is going through its second bankruptcy since opening in 2012, are due Monday.

An auction is scheduled next Thursday at the offices of White & Case in New York.

If a winning bidder is picked, a hearing to confirm the sale could be held as soon as Aug. 8, according to court filings.