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Diamond Sports Group, the largest owner of regional sports networks, will miss a $140 million interest payment next week, which would put the company closer to filing for bankruptcy, the Associated Press reported. Two people familiar with the financing plans said that the missed interest payments would begin a 30-day grace period, where Diamond Sports Group could negotiate with creditors and restructure its debt. Another avenue could be a pre-arranged chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. Diamond owns 19 networks under the Bally Sports banner. Those networks have the rights to 42 professional teams — 14 baseball, 16 NBA and 12 NHL. Bloomberg reported last month that Diamond Sports Group has an overall debt of $8.6 billion. Sinclair Broadcast Group — which owns Diamond — bought the regional sports networks from Walt Disney Company for nearly $10 billion in 2019. Disney was required by the Department of Justice to sell the networks in order for its acquisition of 21st Century Fox’s film and television assets to be approved. Diamond has nearly $1 billion in rights payments, mostly to baseball teams, due in the first quarter this year. Commissioner Rob Manfred told the AP earlier this week after an owners’ meeting that MLB would be in a position to step in if Diamond was unable to broadcast games.

New York regulators directed a crypto company to stop issuing one of the largest dollar-pegged cryptocurrencies, as a government clampdown on the sector widens, the Wall Street Journal reported. The New York Department of Financial Services ordered Paxos Trust Co., which issues and lists Binance’s dollar-pegged cryptocurrency, to stop creating more of its BUSD token, Binance said in a statement. Paxos will continue to manage redemptions of the product, the crypto exchange added. BUSD, also known as Binance USD, is a stablecoin backed by U.S. dollars on a one-to-one basis. Binance and Paxos partnered to launch it in 2019 and said the stablecoin was approved by New York’s financial regulator. Binance said that BUSD is issued and owned by Paxos and that the crypto company only licenses its brand. There were 6.2 million holders of BUSD as of Feb. 13, according to Binance’s website. Paxos said in a statement that it will stop issuing new BUSD on Feb. 21. and that it will end its relationship with Binance for the branded stablecoin BUSD. It added that BUSD will continue to be redeemable through at least February 2024 for U.S. dollars or Paxos’ own stablecoin, Pax Dollar.

The founders of failed hedge fund Three Arrows Capital Ltd. have resurfaced with a $25 million crypto-exchange venture that will let users trade bankruptcy claims from insolvent platforms and funds, including their own, the Wall Street Journal reported. Open Exchange, or OPNX, was created by Su Zhu and Kyle Davies — who set up Three Arrows together — and the two founders of crypto exchange CoinFLEX. The new platform is expected to launch by the end of this month, Mr. Su said. It has begun accepting applications from individuals who want to be among the first to trade their crypto claims; Mr. Su tweeted on Sunday that there were more than 3,600 sign-ups so far. U.S. residents are among those that aren’t eligible for the wait list, the company said. The company’s website said there is a $20 billion market of crypto claimants, and the exchange will allow creditors to convert their claims into cryptocurrencies to use them as margin collateral for crypto futures trading. Claims against Three Arrows Capital are among those that can be traded on the new exchange, in addition to claims against FTX, Genesis Global Capital, Celsius Network LLC and others, OPNX said. Further down the road, OPNX wants to introduce decentralized custody and clearing services and also stocks and foreign-exchange products, Mr. Zhu said in a tweet.

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.’s Canadian division will shut down its stores under court protection after the company received an unusual lifeline earlier this week to save its U.S. operations from bankruptcy, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The troubled home-goods retailer on Friday filed its Canadian division for protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, Canada’s rough equivalent of chapter 11 bankruptcy. Bed Bath & Beyond has “reluctantly concluded” that even with the lifeline of its recent equity raise, there isn’t enough capital available both to restructure its U.S. business and bring the Canadian business to profitability, the company said in filings with an Ontario court. Bed Bath & Beyond operates 54 Bed Bath & Beyond stores and 11 Buybuy Baby stores in Canada, with 387 full-time employees and 1,038 part-time employees, court papers show. The company said it plans to “effect an orderly liquidation of its remaining inventory with assistance from a third-party professional liquidator and vacate its leased retail stores and premises.” The Canadian insolvency case doesn’t cover the U.S.-based parent company, which struck an unusual equity-raising deal earlier this week with hedge fund Hudson Bay Capital Management LP and other investors. It provided the company with $225 million in immediate proceeds, along with commitments for up to $800 million over the next 10 months, so long as the company meets certain financial conditions such as staying current on its debts.

Bipartisan legislation introduced on Feb. 6 by Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) aims to rescue rural American hospitals facing bankruptcy, the Rippon Advance reported. “For many communities and families, this is a life or death situation,” said Rep. Graves on Wednesday. “I’m proud to reintroduce this bipartisan solution that will make common-sense reforms to put our rural hospitals back on solid ground and rescue many from the brink.” The "Save America’s Rural Hospitals Act," H.R. 833, which Rep. Graves sponsored alongside lead original cosponsor Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) would amend the Social Security Act to authorize enhanced payments to rural healthcare providers under the Medicare and Medicaid programs, according to the text of the bill. If enacted, H.R. 833 would eliminate Medicare sequestration for rural hospitals and make Medicare telehealth service enhancements permanent for federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics, according to a bill summary provided by Rep. Graves’ office. The bill also would permanently extend increased Medicare payments for rural ground ambulance services that are set to expire on Dec. 31, 2024, and expand access to certified registered nurse anesthetists’ services, the summary says.

Sycamore Partners Management LP’s Nielsen & Bainbridge LLC, a wholesale supplier of home décor for major online retailers, filed for bankruptcy protection to turn itself over to lenders KKR & Co. LP and Silver Point Capital LP, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Nielsen & Bainbridge said in court papers Thursday that top lenders KKR Credit Advisors (US) LLC, the credit arm of KKR, and Silver Point agreed to provide a $60 million bankruptcy loan and exchange the debt plus $57.7 million outstanding under its asset-based loan facility the lenders hold for full ownership of the company. The lenders’ credit bid requires court approval to take effect and could be challenged by any higher or better offer for the business, which supplies home décor and other home goods to bricks-and-mortar and online retailers including Walmart Inc., Target Corp. and Amazon.com Inc. The company’s chief transformation officer, Amy Lee, blamed the chapter 11 filing on “recent events all too common for retail vendors,” including supply-chain problems, rising freight costs, tariffs on Chinese imports and inflation’s impact on consumer spending. Nielsen & Bainbridge needs to emerge from bankruptcy in fewer than 60 days, Ms. Lee said in a sworn declaration filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Texas.

A U.S. judge on Thursday extended a ban on FTX cryptocurrency exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried's ability to contact employees of companies he once controlled and use encrypted messaging technology while out on bail awaiting trial on fraud charges, Reuters reported. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan on Feb. 1 had temporarily barred Bankman-Fried from contacting any current or former employees of FTX or Alameda Research, his hedge fund, after prosecutors raised concerns that the 30-year-old former billionaire may be trying to tamper with witnesses. As a condition of his release on $250 million bond, the judge also prevented Bankman-Fried from using messaging apps such as Signal that let users auto-delete messages. After rejecting an agreement between defense lawyers and prosecutors to loosen those conditions on Tuesday, Kaplan on Thursday said the restrictions would remain in place until Feb. 21 and instructed both sides to explain by Feb. 13 how they could be sure Bankman-Fried would not delete electronic messages.

FTX’s bankruptcy lawyers, legal and financial advisors have billed the company more than $19.6 million in fees for their work done in 2022, according to court documents unveiled on Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported. The law firms that billed FTX are Sullivan & Cromwell, Landis Rath & Cobb, and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan. Advisory firms Alvarez & Marsal and AlixPartners also billed the company, according to their applications for compensation.

High-end American bike brand, Parlee Cycles, filed for chapter 11 protection on Feb. 6, Cycling Weekly reported. Parlee Cycles was started in 2000 by longtime boat builder Bob Parlee and his wife, Isabel. What started as a bespoke, one-man shop soon grew into a highly desirable race frame manufacturer with a collection of both custom and stock models and international distribution. The company's bankruptcy announcement comes at a time of acute strain across the global biking industry, with excess stock meeting rapidly contracted markets, resulting in cash flow challenges for businesses of all sizes and scales, including the worlds largest bike manufacturer.