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As Alex Jones continues telling his Infowars audience about his money problems and pleads for them to buy his products, his own documents show life is not all that bad — his net worth is around $14 million and his personal spending topped $93,000 in July alone, including thousands of dollars on meals and entertainment, the Associated Press reported. The conspiracy theorist and his lawyers file monthly financial reports in his personal bankruptcy case, and the latest one has struck a nerve with the families of victims of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. They’re still seeking the $1.5 billion they won last year in lawsuits against Jones and his media company for repeatedly calling the 2012 massacre a hoax on his shows. In an Aug. 29 court filing, lawyers for the families said that if Jones doesn’t reduce his personal expenses to a “reasonable” level, they will ask the bankruptcy judge to bar him from “further waste of estate assets,” appoint a trustee to oversee his spending, or dismiss the bankruptcy case. On his Infowars show Tuesday, Jones said he’s not doing anything wrong. “If anything, I like to go to nice restaurants. That is my deal. I like to go on a couple of nice vacations a year, but I think I pretty much have earned that in this fight,” he said, urging his audience to donate money for his legal expenses. Jones’ spending in July, which was up from nearly $75,000 in April, included his monthly $15,000 payment to his wife, Erika Wulff Jones — payouts called “fraudulent transfers” by lawyers for the Sandy Hook families. Jones says they’re required under a prenuptial agreement.

U.S. appeals court judges questioned a 2-1/2-year pause in a shareholder lawsuit against PG&E Corp officers and directors on Wednesday, suggesting that they could allow the case over statements about the utility's wildfire prevention measures to go forward, Reuters reported. A New Mexico pension fund sued 44 of PG&E's corporate leaders in 2018 on behalf of a proposed class of investors who lost money on the utility after its long-neglected electrical grid ignited wildfires in California that killed more than 100 people. U.S. District Judge Edward Davila paused the case in September 2022 until the end of PG&E's bankruptcy case. Though the company emerged from bankruptcy in 2020, the bankruptcy court is still handling claims, including 8,000 individual shareholder claims against the company. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit questioned the need for those claims to be heard before investors can sue PG&E's officers and directors, who are not debtors in the bankruptcy. U.S. Circuit Court Judge Danielle Forrest called the stay "a little puzzling." "What is the efficiency that we are even gaining here? Other than the district court doesn't have to do any work right now," she said. Attorney Stephen Blake, arguing for the directors and officers, said the stay would help avoid inconsistent rulings between the bankruptcy court and the district court. Carol Villegas, an attorney for the shareholders, many of whom have not pursued claims against PG&E in the bankruptcy, said the class claims are worth billions of dollars and insurance proceeds that could cover damages have dwindled.

FTX received court approval to sell over $3 billion worth of cryptocurrency that has been frozen since the exchange’s collapse, a move that would help repay its customers and reduce its exposure to sudden changes in crypto prices, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. While FTX has said its nearly 10 million customers likely won’t recoup all the crypto they deposited, the company has been seeking approval in bankruptcy court to sell assets that would partially reimburse them. FTX also said it wants to sell its tokens that have been frozen in bankruptcy for dollars to cut its exposure to swings in crypto prices. FTX lawyers said yesterday that because customer funds were commingled into a general account at the bankrupt exchange, there was no way to track down which user owned any particular coins. The assets in question are the property of FTX’s chapter 11 estate, said FTX lawyer Andrew Dietderich.

Digital Currency Group, parent company of bankrupt crypto lender Genesis Global, said users of Gemini Trust’s Earn program can expect 95% to 110% recovery of their claims against Genesis under a recently announced financial framework, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Customers of crypto exchange Gemini’s Earn program lent Genesis nearly $1 billion before the latter filed for bankruptcy in January following the failure of crypto exchange FTX. Genesis said last month that under the proposed framework, its customers could receive estimated recoveries of between 70% to 90%. But DCG said the rate of recovery for more than 232,000 users of Gemini’s Earn program would be even better because Genesis had posted about 30.9 million shares of DCG-owned investment firm Grayscale Bitcoin Trust as collateral to secure borrowings from Gemini Earn users, according to its filing Wednesday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, N.Y. The value of the collateral — which is now held by Gemini — has more than doubled to $607.6 million from $284.3 million in the past several months, giving an edge to Gemini Earn users over the rest of Genesis creditors, according to DCG.

The Boy Scouts of America's $2.46 billion sex abuse settlement is facing new legal uncertainty as the U.S. Supreme Court weighs how far bankruptcy courts can go to protect non-debtors, a fact acknowledged on Tuesday by the judge overseeing the youth organization's bankruptcy, Reuters reported. Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Laurie Silverstein said at a court hearing in Wilmington, Del., that she would continue to hear disputes related to the Boy Scouts settlement without waiting for a Supreme Court decision in the case of Purdue Pharma. The drugmaker is seeking to resolve thousands of lawsuits related to its allegedly deceptive marketing of the addictive painkiller Oxycontin in bankruptcy. The high court agreed in August to hear a challenge by the Biden administration to the legality of Purdue's bankruptcy settlement, putting on hold a deal that would shield its wealthy Sackler family owners from lawsuits over their alleged roles in the country's opioid epidemic. They have denied wrongdoing. Abuse claimants opposed to the Boy Scouts' settlement on Friday had asked U.S. District Judge Richard Andrews to issue a stay that would stop the settlement from moving ahead until the Supreme Court ruling in Purdue, saying that the settlement should not cut off their ability to sue non-bankrupt organizations, such as churches who co-sponsored Scouting programs.

The same day in July that Mercy Iowa City’s largest bondholder asked for a receiver to take over the hospital’s operations — a move hospital officials said compelled them to file for bankruptcy protection days later — a pair of recently terminated Mercy executives also filed suit against their former employer, accusing the hospital of ghosting them and shorting them payments that were promised, the Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Gazette reported. “Mercy Hospital has not paid the additional payments that are due and owing Miller and Andronowitz under the offer letters and severance agreements,” according to the July 24 lawsuit. “Mercy Hospital has not responded to Miller and Andronowitz’s demand for payment or provided any explanation for its continued non-payment.” Dawna Miller and Judy Andronowitz were Mercy’s chief financial officer and clinic chief operating officer, respectively, until August 2022 — around the time the hospital told employees its search for a new strategic partner had come up dry and it would remain an affiliate of Des Moines-based MercyOne. In an email dated July 28, 2022 — obtained by The Gazette — Mercy’s then-acting President and Chief Executive Officer Mike Trachta, who since has returned to his primary MercyOne position as vice president of network affiliates, announced the failed search and other staff changes. “I wanted to update you on two leaders who are leaving Mercy Iowa City,” Trachta wrote then. “I want to thank Dawna Miller and Judy Andronowitz for their contributions to our organization. Please join me in wishing them well.” A year later, both women report in their lawsuit being terminated in August 2022 and entering into severance agreements “wherein Mercy Hospital agreed, among other things, to pay the 12 months severance pay initially promised in (their) offer letters.”

Bankrupt cryptocurrency lender Genesis Global Holdco LLC sued its parent, Digital Currency Group, seeking to recover about $620 million in outstanding loans despite ongoing settlement talks, Bloomberg News reported. Genesis sued Barry Silbert’s DCG and DCG International Investments Ltd. on Wednesday in New York bankruptcy court but asserted that the companies will keep discussing a potential deal that could end the dispute. The lawsuits were filed after Genesis unveiled a $1.4 billion debt repayment plan backed by some of its customers but which isn’t supported by other key creditors. “Genesis has agreed to stay the turnover action so that we can move forward with documenting the deal in principle that was reached with Genesis, the UCC, and DCG,” a spokesperson for DCG said in an emailed statement. DCG will begin repaying the loans after a standstill agreement is filed with the bankruptcy court, the spokesperson said. The lawsuits concern loans to DCG that Genesis says matured in May. The outstanding debt includes a $500 million loan to DCG and loan to DCGI comprised of about 4,550 Bitcoin, according to the lawsuits. Genesis is also seeking to recover accrued interest and late fees.

Opponents of the Boy Scouts of America’s plan for a $2.4 billion sex-abuse settlement recently found fresh legal ammunition when the Supreme Court agreed to examine a similar plan drawn up by Purdue Pharma, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Some of the Boy Scouts’ insurers and a small group of sex-abuse victims have renewed calls in federal court to temporarily block the youth group’s chapter 11 plan, saying it shouldn’t advance any further until the Supreme Court weighs in on Purdue’s plan for mass opioid liabilities. Their attempt is the latest example of how the Supreme Court’s decision to hear a challenge to Purdue’s chapter 11 plan is rippling through the bankruptcy system. The Supreme Court last month said it would examine whether bankruptcy law can be used to resolve creditors claims’ against third parties that aren’t in chapter 11 without the consent of all claimants. Such releases are central to the bankruptcy plans crafted by both the Boy Scouts and Purdue. Purdue’s plan would release its Sackler family owners from opioid-related liabilities in return for up to $6 billion in settlement payments. In the Boys Scouts’ plan, local councils and partner organizations of the organization would be shielded from the claims of the sex-abuse claimants. In court papers filed Friday, the Boy Scouts argued that, unlike the Purdue case, the youth group’s plan can’t be halted as the wheels are already in motion to collect the settlement funds and distribute them to plaintiffs.

The co-founders of Israeli artificial intelligence startup Vesttoo ran a forgery scheme that included a fake bank employee persona named “Alex Garcia” to obtain billions of dollars in bogus letters of credit for insurance deals, the now-bankrupt company said, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Vesttoo’s investigation into the fraud allegations that drove it to bankruptcy last month alleged that co-founders Yaniv Bertele and Alon Lifshitz and other senior executives had engaged in a scheme to generate fraudulent letters of credit from China Construction Bank and other financial institutions. The company also said it is considering litigation against China Construction Bank and U.K.-based Standard Chartered based on evidence turned up in the internal investigation that employees at both banks may have been involved in the fraudulent scheme, according to Thursday’s report, filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. It marks Vesttoo’s initial findings into what went wrong at the company. Bertele said in a statement Thursday that he rejects the report’s allegations and that Vesttoo’s investigation “was flawed from the outset and targeted the company’s founders as its objective.” His statement said the investigation was part of a “takeover within the company amidst a dispute between shareholders.” Lifshitz also said the report’s accusations are unfounded and that the investigation was biased and served the interests of other shareholders. Both Bertele and Lifshitz are contesting their dismissals from the company under Israeli law, according to the report.

FTX Group advisers have scrutinized whether they can claw back millions of dollars paid to Shaquille O’Neal, tennis star Naomi Osaka and other professional athletes and teams that promoted Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto platform before its collapse, Bloomberg News reported. Financial advisers hired by FTX disclosed in court papers that they’ve analyzed if certain payments dished out to athletes before the company unraveled last November can be recovered in chapter 11. Advisers have reviewed payments to O’Neal, Osaka and others to determine if the transfers are subject to rules that permit companies to reverse transactions that occurred just before a chapter 11 filing, according to court documents. While not a complete accounting of FTX’s spending on endorsements, the new disclosures likely offer the fullest glimpse to date into how Bankman-Fried’s empire elevated its profile using the fame of celebrity athletes, Major League Baseball, National Basketball Association teams and Formula 1. Whether FTX advisers believe all of the payments can be recovered, or if any athletes or teams have already offered to return payments, couldn’t be learned. FTX’s disclosures describe many of the transfers to athletes, teams and leagues as prepayments related to advertising or sponsorship deals. FTX cautioned the financial disclosures may not be complete because the company lacked “detailed historical amortization information” and could be further amended in the future. New FTX Chief Executive Officer John J. Ray III said when the company filed chapter 11, the company lacked trustworthy financial information and didn’t keep complete books and records.