ChicagoTribune.com reports, “When U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Eugene Wedoff learned he’d be overseeing the Chapter 11 reorganization of the Giordano’s pizza chain, he was eating dinner — a Giordano’s stuffed spinach pizza, to be exact.”

“Wedoff shared the story in court on Friday morning, and said he was “delighted” with a milestone in the Chicago-based restaurant chain’s bankruptcy reorganization. Earlier this week, investors that included private equity firm Victory Park Capital paid a total of $61.6 million for Giordano’s restaurant and real estate assets in a bankruptcy court auction. Giordano’s secured creditors had claims of about $55 million, meaning that there’ll likely be money left over for unsecured creditors.”

“In court this morning, bankruptcy trustee Philip Martino gave his latest status report. He noted that the auction began at 10 a.m. on Wednesday and ended at nearly 1 a.m. Thursday morning. Martino was named trustee in May, after Giordano’s owner John Apostolou fired his lawyer and struck up a relationship with an Arizona man who made what the trustee believe was a fraudulent claim against Giordano’s. Early on, before the official sales process began in bankruptcy court, Giordano’s was getting unsolicited offers of $30 million to $45 million, Martino told the court.”