Puerto Rico Finds Going Bust Isn’t Cheap as Consultant Fees Rise

By Michelle Kaske and Jodi Xu Klein, Bloomberg News

For Puerto Rico, it’s been expensive to go broke.

Even before the U.S. territory filed for a tailor-made form of bankruptcy , the government spent as much as $154 million on financial consultants and lawyers as it negotiated with bondholders to cut its $74 billion debt, according to the terms in contracts provided by the island’s Office of the Comptroller. With creditors and Puerto Rico now squaring off in court, the fees will only grow.

“This can become very expensive in relationship to the benefits you receive if you don’t get ...