DAVID DRUMM has reached agreement with lawyers for Anglo Irish Bank on a proposed protective order. If approved by a judge, it will enable him to keep elements of his bankruptcy proceedings secret.

The bankruptcy judge, Frank Bailey, will decide today whether the Drumms’ holiday home in Cape Cod can be sold in the interest of paying Mr Drumm’s debts.

Meanwhile, Chase Bank has added its complaint to those of Mr Drumm’s creditors, demanding payment of $13,570 in credit card debts run up by Mr Drumm between the end of July and October 14th, 2010, when he filed for bankruptcy.

Mr Drumm’s lawyers alluded to the application for a protective order in bankruptcy hearings last December 7th and again on January 5th.

In December, Mr Drumm began negotiations with his former employer Anglo Irish, which claims he owes it €8.5 million. At the time, Mr Drumm insisted that parts of the case be kept confidential. Such protective orders are standard practice in US bankruptcy cases involving negotiations between two parties. Anglo wanted the “discovery” (investigation) to proceed, and so acquiesced to the demand.

It is not clear to what extent Anglo’s lawyers will restrain attempts by Mr Drumm’s legal team to impose secrecy on proceedings. Nor is it clear whether the protective order would be invoked to hide dealings at Anglo during Mr Drumm’s reign there, or merely to shield his wife and children from embarrassment.

“The debtor contends that certain documents, testimony and other information provided by him to AIBC [Anglo Irish Bank Corporation] . . . contains information confidential and proprietary to him and entitled to confidential protection,” says the motion filed with the bankruptcy court of Massachusetts last week by Mr Drumm.

Parties opposed to the protective order have 14 days after the proposed order was registered on January 11th to file objections.

The motion quotes US law, which says: “The court may for good cause issue an order to protect a party or person from annoyance, embarrassment, oppression or undue burden or expense.”

If signed by the judge, the six-page protective order will “order, adjudge and decree” that “any document, testimony, or other information provided by the debtor, which contains information confidential and proprietary to him and entitled to confidential protection, may be designated as confidential.”

Journalists would be allowed to continue attending Mr Drumm’s bankruptcy hearings, but material deemed confidential would be kept out of those hearings.