%1

The Diocese of Oakland (Calif.) is facing the possibility of bankruptcy due to child sex abuse claims, it announced in a letter on Thursday. According to the letter, which was addressed to “Parishioners and Friends,” the diocese said that it may be facing approximately 330 lawsuits, KRON4.com reported. “As the court continues to process the lawsuits, the total magnitude will become clearer,” read the letter, which was signed by Bishop of Oakland, Most Rev. Michael C. Barber. “However, it is increasingly evident we face a monumental challenge. I have therefore been working with our College of Consultors, our Diocesan Finance Council, and our staff and advisors to discern the best way to support compassionate and equitable compensation for survivors and ensure the continuation of vibrant, Christ-centered parishes to serve our faithful.” The letter goes on to say that the “Diocese is giving strong consideration to filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.” If the Oakland Diocese does file for chapter 11, it would join the Santa Rosa catholic diocese as the second Bay Area diocese to file for bankruptcy over sexual abuse claims in the past week.

Major League Baseball warned America’s biggest local broadcaster of professional sports games that it must televise hundreds of upcoming baseball games — and pay the related fees — even though the company is in bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported. Two weeks before baseball season starts, Diamond Sports Group has not said whether it will televise games for the 14 teams it has contracts with, MLB attorney James Bromley told the judge overseeing Diamond’s bankruptcy case. Through its Bally Sports brand, Diamond is obligated to broadcast an average of 150 games for each of those teams, Bromley said during a court hearing held by video on Thursday afternoon. “We are very concerned because opening day is just two weeks away,” Bromley said. If Diamond fails to pay any of the fees associated with the games, MLB will ask US Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez to take action, Bromley said. Diamond has the money to broadcast all the basketball and hockey games left for the year under its agreements with those sports leagues, company lawyer Andrew Goldman said during the hearing. He didn’t say whether the company plans to broadcast the baseball games. Diamond filed bankruptcy on Tuesday in Houston, with a proposal to cut more than $8 billion in debt by giving ownership of the company to creditors.

National CineMedia Inc., the largest movie-theater advertising business in North America, is negotiating to hand control to senior lenders as part of a planned bankruptcy filing, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The company, which owes roughly $1.1 billion in debt, is in an extended grace period after missing interest payments owed to its bondholders last month. It has hired law firm Latham & Watkins LLP as restructuring counsel, while its operating subsidiary National CineMedia LLC recently tapped lawyers from Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP, according to people familiar with the matter. FTI Consulting Inc. is serving as restructuring adviser, while Lazard Ltd is the company’s investment banker, these people said. Negotiations with creditors have focused on reaching a prearranged restructuring deal that could be implemented through chapter 11, the people familiar with the matter said. The company is expected to continue operating as usual.

Bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX made transfers of about $2.2 billion to company founder Sam Bankman-Fried through related entities, the company's new management said, Reuters reported. Overall more than $3.2 billion was transferred through payments and loans to company founders and key employees, FTX said in a statement on Wednesday. These payments were made chiefly from Alameda Research hedge fund, FTX said, adding that it made these disclosures by filing schedules and statements of financial affairs with the bankruptcy court. The crypto exchange said the transfers did not include over $240 million spent to purchase luxury property in the Bahamas, political and charitable donations made directly by the FTX debtors, and substantial transfers to non-debtor units in the Bahamas and other jurisdictions.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany announced Wednesday it has filed for chapter 11 protection, CBSAlbany.com reported. Under a chapter 11 status, this means all legal actions against the diocese will pause, including lawsuits involving St. Clare's pensioners. The diocese contends that the St. Clare's crisis was not the reason for filing under chapter 11. In a statement, Bishop Edward Scharfenberger pointed to the Child Victims Act resulting in large settlements, leaving insurance coffers depleted. The diocese said that the bankruptcy filing does not affect parishes and Catholic schools are separately incorporated under New York State’s Religious Corporations Law.

U.S. officials are trying to block key parts of the sale of bankrupt Voyager Digital Ltd. to Binance.US, the American arm of the world’s biggest crypto exchange, while the government appeals a judge’s approval of the deal, Bloomberg News reported. he government opposes any limits on its ability to punish anyone involved in the proposal and a related bankruptcy-exit plan that Bankruptcy Judge Michael E. Wiles approved last week, a Justice Department lawyer said in court yesterday. Other aspects of the deal could go forward, but not the legal protections included as part of Voyager’s chapter 11 plan, Assistant U.S. Attorney Larry Fogleman told Wiles. Wiles agreed to hold a hearing Wednesday to decide whether to block the plan’s exculpation provisions. The provisions, which are routine in corporate bankruptcy cases, protect people from being held personally liable for implementing a court-approved plan. Under its bankruptcy plan, Voyager has the option of selling itself to Binance.US or liquidating its assets and distributing the money to creditors. Judge Wiles gave the company permission to do either after four days of contentious bankruptcy hearings.

Diamond Sports Group, which provides local television broadcasts for nearly half of NBA, NHL and MLB games, filed for U.S. bankruptcy protection in Texas on yesterday, caught between expensive broadcast rights agreements and sports viewers' cord-cutting habits, Reuters reported. Diamond Sports, a Sinclair Broadcast Group subsidiary that operates the "Bally Sports" branded channels, listed assets and liabilities between $1 billion and $10 billion each in its chapter 11 petition. Diamond CEO David Preschlack said Tuesday that the Diamond "will continue broadcasting games and connecting fans across the country with the sports and teams they love" during its chapter 11 bankruptcy. Diamond said that it has $425 million in cash on hand, but it owes $9 billion to its lenders and is weighed down by long-term broadcast rights agreements that make less economic sense as customers move away from cable and towards online streaming options.

AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. on Tuesday won shareholders’ backing to sell new common stock, a financial lifeline for the movie-theater chain as it continues to lose money because of low cinema attendance, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Shareholders voted to increase the number of common shares that AMC can sell, an important tool for the company to stay afloat and potentially weather a downturn in the cinema industry that has pushed some competitors into bankruptcy. The shareholder vote also authorized a 10-for-1 reverse stock split and will likely allow AMC to convert its Ape preferred units into common shares. The Ape units closed at $1.62, down 6%, after having rallied earlier in the day, while AMC common shares fell 15% to close at $4.64. “The surest way to combat naysayers and prophets of doom is to keep our cash reserves robust, manage our balance sheet smartly, and operate our company as best we know how,” Chief Executive Adam Aron said on a conference call with shareholders yesterday. AMC’s revenue has rebounded from the worst days of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the company posted a net loss of nearly $1 billion for 2022. It had $631 million of cash on its balance sheet as of Dec. 31, down from close to $1.6 billion at the end of 2021.

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. said on Tuesday it has reached a new agreement with investors that will allow the distressed retailer to get another $100 million in funding, even though its share price has sunk, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The agreement with hedge fund Hudson Bay Capital Management LP reduces the share-price threshold the retailer needs to maintain as part of an equity offering deal to $1 from $1.25 until April 3, the company said. The lower threshold will allow the company to collect an additional $100 million by selling equity warrants to Hudson Bay and other investors, bringing the total amount Bed Bath & Beyond has raised since last month to $460 million. At the time, the company had been on the verge of bankruptcy after having missed interest payments before it inked the equity offering. Hudson Bay, along with some other investors, provided $225 million to Bed Bath & Beyond last month as the first installment of the complex equity deal, involving a mix of warrants for preferred convertible and common shares.