Free Republic

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn is expected to be named special adviser to the president on overhauling federal regulations, according to people familiar with the matter. Mr. Icahn, who has spent the past four decades battling big companies as an activist investor, already has been wielding influence in President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team. He is playing a central role in selecting the next chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the people said. Interested candidates have reached out to him, and he is interviewing others at the request of Mr. Trump, the people said.

A bankruptcy-court examiner said Dynegy Inc.'s board breached its fiduciary duty with an asset reshuffling that benefited billionaire Carl Icahn and other shareholders at the expense of creditors. A report by the examiner released Friday threw the Houston-based power provider's debt-restructuring plans for its main subsidiary into doubt, a setback for Mr. Icahn. The restructuring, executed before Dynegy's subsidiary filed for bankruptcy protection in November, was a "fraudulent transfer" that moved "hundreds of millions of dollars away from Dynegy's creditors in favor of its stockholders," said the examiner, Susheel Kirpalani, in a 173-page report. He suggested Mr. Icahn's representatives no...