A Los Angeles man has pleaded not guilty to running a Ponzi scheme that cheated about 50 investors in a NASCAR merchandise wholesale business out of at least $10 million.

Federal prosecutors say 63-year-old Eliott Dresher was arraigned and ordered held pending trial in U.S. District Court Monday.

The U.S. attorney's office says Dresher claimed investors' money would be used to buy NASCAR apparel and sell it to stores. He claimed he had $70 million in various accounts and his business would return 20 percent every six months.

Dresher ran his scheme for about 10 years before it c

The Supreme Court has declined to take another look at Chrysler's bankruptcy.

The justices on Monday turned down an appeal from the state of Indiana pension funds that earlier challenged the automaker's bankruptcy proceedings. The bulk of Chrysler LLC's assets were sold to Italy's Fiat.

The court previously rejected the pension funds' effort to block the sale.

In the latest appeal, the funds argued that the arrangement worked out with Fiat, and approved by federal courts, violated federal bankruptcy law. The pension funds said they were not trying to reverse the bankruptcy sale, but instead wanted to recover money for themselves and other Chrysler creditors.

Nortel Networks Corp. said late Wednesday it won court approval in the U.S. and Canada to sell two of its business units.

The larger unit, Nortel's global optical networking and carrier ethernet businesses, is going to Ciena Corp. The business is one of the most sought-after assets of Nortel, a once-dominant network gear maker that is selling itself off in pieces after filing for Chapter 11 protection in January.

The deal gives Ciena all products, contracts, and intellectual property, including technology that improves the speed and capacity of fiber optic networks.

Bankruptcy courts in Delaware and Ontario approved the deal over objections by Finnish rival Nokia Siemens Networks, which said that it would be willing to pay $810 million in cash for the business with its partner, One Equity Partners.

General Growth Properties Inc. said Wednesday that it has filed its reorganization plan, and its lenders have agreed to restructure about $9.7 billion in shopping mall mortgage loans, more than previously planned.

Last month the mall operator, which earlier this year filed the largest U.S. real estate bankruptcy case in history, said its lenders had agreed to restructure some $8.9 billion in loans.

The real estate investment trust and about 166 regional shopping centers and subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 protection in April. The company had about $27 billion in debt piled up at the time.

General Growth fell victim to an aggressive expansion during the height of the real estate boom and was unable to service it when credit markets dried up during last year's financial crisis.

General Growth, based in Chicago, is the second-largest U.S. mall operator. The shopping mall loans that are being restructured cover 92 regional shopping centers, office properties, community centers and related subsidiaries.

The company's reorganization plan includes full payment of all undisputed claims against emerging debtors for pre-petition goods and services.

General Growth said the Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of New York is set to confirm its reorganization plan on Dec. 15. If the company obtains all of the necessary approvals for its plan and meets the necessary conditions, General Growth anticipates the regional shopping centers, office properties community centers and other subsidiaries associated with the loans will be out of bankruptcy before year's end.

The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected another request by former Qwest Communications International Inc. CEO Joseph Nacchio to review his insider trading conviction.

The court revealed Monday that it won't reconsider its decision in October not to take up his case.

Nacchio was convicted in 2007 on 19 counts of insider trading, and he reported to prison in April.

However a federal judge is reconsidering his sentence. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in July that he should be resentenced because the trial judge miscalculated when he sentenced Nacchio to six years in prison and ordered him to pay $71 million in fines and forfeitures.

Nacchio still faces a civil lawsuit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

General Motors Co. has sued a supplier over problems with steering columns that have so far cost the automaker more than $30 million to fix.

The Detroit automaker is seeking damages from JTEKT North America Inc. and subsidiary JTEKT Automotive Virginia Inc. for problems associated with steering products used in the Chevrolet Cobalt and other GM vehicles since 2005.

GM claims the steering columns "had excessive gear backlash, thereby causing the columns to rattle under certain driving conditions."

Problems with the parts resulted in an "unexpectedly high number" of warranty claims and complaints about "unusual rattles, 'clunks' or other noises emanating from the steering assemblies in their vehicles," GM alleges in the lawsuit, originally filed in Macomb County Circuit Court but moved last week to federal court in Detroit.

While the problem has already cost GM more than $30 million, the automaker said it expects the bill will rise as GM customers file additional warranty claims.