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Failed crypto lender Celsius Network Ltd. has attracted two new bidders in a three-way auction set for Tuesday, according to a Saturday filing by Kirkland & Ellis, which is overseeing the bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported. Joining an earlier bid by NovaWulf Digital Management to manage a restructured version of the bankrupt cryptocurrency company are Fahrenheit LLC, a consortium backed by Techcrunch Inc. founder Michael Arrington, and Blockchain Recovery Investment Committee, backed by Gemini Trust, run by the Winklevoss twins, and exchange-traded fund manager Van Eck Absolute Return Advisers Corporation. Meanwhile, the official committee of Celsius creditors won court approval on April 18 to assert claims including fraud and negligent misrepresentation against the failed crypto lender on behalf of its account holders. Allegations of fraud and misrepresentation have plagued Celsius since it filed for bankruptcy with a $1.19 billion deficit in July. The company made false statements publicly that signaled keeping money with Celsius was safer than that of a bank, Aaron Colodny, a lawyer representing the official unsecured creditor’s committee, said during the April 18 hearing.

The U.S. government reached an agreement with Voyager Digital Ltd. allowing the bankrupt cryptocurrency platform to sell its user accounts to Binance.US, meaning Voyager customers will be able to access their funds again, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Federal authorities have agreed to allow a key part of Voyager’s chapter 11 plan—the transfer of customer accounts to Binance.US—to go ahead while a related government appeal of a narrow provision in Voyager’s reorganization continues, according to court papers filed Wednesday. Various state and federal regulators including the Securities and Exchange Commission opposed the Binance.US deal, which was approved in bankruptcy court only to be put on hold by appellate judges. The government has said a provision in Voyager’s chapter 11 plan could tie regulators’ hands in taking future enforcement actions against the parties involved in distributing its cryptocurrency. Voyager has said the provision is necessary to protect those involved in implementing the court-approved chapter 11 plan.

Bankrupt drugmaker Sorrento Therapeutics Inc.’s subsidiary Scilex Holding Co. is exploring a sale of new stock to take advantage of a share-price rally as Sorrento charts a path out of chapter 11, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Shares in publicly traded Scilex, Sorrento’s largest asset, have more than doubled in value since its parent company filed for chapter 11 in February, closing at $14.80 on Wednesday to give Scilex a market capitalization of more than $2 billion. The run-up in Scilex shares came after it became a popular pick in some online investing forums geared toward small, nonprofessional traders. If the fundraising is successful, the new money could boost Sorrento’s value as it seeks to end its chapter 11 case and resolve the yearslong licensing dispute that drove the company into bankruptcy. A stock issuance could also dilute San Diego-based Sorrento’s roughly 51% stake in Scilex, which makes nonopioid painkillers and isn’t in bankruptcy itself. Sorrento and other Scilex shareholders can’t sell their holdings until a lockup period stemming from a recent merger deal runs out on May 11, according to court filings.

Pfizer Inc., the world's largest drug maker, will buy the assets of at-home COVID-flu test developer Lucira Health Inc. following an auction Thursday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware, the San Francisco Business Times reported. After meeting with the unsecured creditors' committee, Emeryville-based Lucira declared Pfizer, the manufacturer of a critical COVID-19 vaccine and drug, as the successful bidder. The next highest bidder was Pearsanta Inc., a recently formed subsidiary of Richmond, Virginia-based Aditxt Inc., according to a bankruptcy court filing. Court filings did not disclose how much the companies bid for Lucira, which was the first company to win Food and Drug Administration emergency use authorization in late 2020 for an at-home, do-it-yourself molecular diagnostic test for COVID. Lucira filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February as it awaited FDA approval of a combined COVID-flu test for which it had been trying to take to market for months. Two days after the bankruptcy filing, FDA officials granted emergency use authorization, or EUA, for the combined test. Pfizer's purchase of Lucira's assets is scheduled to be heard April 13 before Bankruptcy Court Judge Mary F. Walrath.

Bankrupt startup SiO2 Medical Products Inc. on Thursday received court approval for a $120 million loan, which includes $60 million of new capital, on its way to a planned handover of the business to Oaktree Capital Management LP, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The Auburn, Ala.-based medical device company filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Wednesday, facing a liquidity crisis after its unsuccessful capital raise efforts in the past few weeks, SiO2’s lawyer Brian Schartz said at a hearing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. Bankruptcy Judge John Dorsey approved the $120 million bankruptcy loan sponsored by top lender Oaktree that will provide the business with $60 million of new capital, with the remaining $60 million to be used to pay back a portion of the debt held by Oaktree before the bankruptcy. Founded in 2012, SiO2 rapidly expanded in the medical device sector by manufacturing vials, syringes and tubes, using its patented materials. The company said it was running out of cash partly because of an ill-fated government contract signed during the pandemic to develop a vial for a COVID-19 vaccine. The 2020 contract granted SiO2 $143 million in funding to build necessary manufacturing facilities, while requiring as much as $128 million in expenditures under a cost-sharing agreement.

Catalina Marketing Corp., a data and marketing services provider to retailers and consumer products companies, filed for bankruptcy on Tuesday for the second time with a prepackaged plan to slash debt and sell its business in Japan, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Catalina has suffered from a decline in demand for its services in recent years, including during the COVID-19 pandemic when most retailers were forced to close their doors, according to a court filing yesterday by Chief Financial Officer Michael Huffmaster. The company filed for chapter 11 protection with a deal in hand to sell its Japanese business to a buyer backed by a Japanese private-equity firm for $103 million and to restructure its U.S. business by reducing its $370 million in debt, according to the filing. The St. Petersburg, Fla.-based company has garnered the support of nearly all creditors to cut $260 million in debt and will seek to exit bankruptcy within just over two months, court papers show. A restructuring plan has already been put to a vote of creditors, with ballots due on April 11. The company slashed even more debt, $1.6 billion, when it last filed for bankruptcy in 2018, but the business faced unexpected headwinds since then, according to Mr. Huffmaster.