U.S. jewelry chain Samuels Jewelers has hired a turnaround adviser at the request of its creditors in a bid to avoid the fate of brick-and-mortar retailers that filed for bankruptcy amid intensifying competition, Reuters reported. Samuel Jewelers’ action comes as its Indian parent company, Gitanjali Gems Ltd, finds itself in legal hot water. Gitanjali’s chairman, Mehul Choksi, was accused by state-run Punjab National Bank in India of defrauding it of nearly $2 billion. Samuel Jewelers has hired Berkeley Research Group LLC for help managing its cash and improving its performance. Samuels Jewelers, with about 130 stores across the U.S., has $90 million in debt. Gitanjali acquired Samuels Jewelers in 2006 to compliment its other U.S. businesses, and planned to supply the shops with jewelry made in its plants in India. Choksi’s nephew, billionaire jeweler and diamond merchant Nirav Modi, has also been accused of conducting the fraud against the bank. His company, Firestar Diamond Inc., filed for bankruptcy in New York earlier this year.
