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Some Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. suppliers say they are restricting or halting shipments even after the company secured new financing, a sign of the challenges the troubled retailer faces to receive new merchandise and reverse more than a year of plummeting sales, Bloomberg News reported. Bed Bath & Beyond used a portion of the $500 million in additional financing it got at the end of August to catch up on overdue payments to suppliers. But some of those suppliers say they remain concerned about the retailer’s survival and have cut off or cut back on merchandise they ship to the company. That further complicates Bed Bath & Beyond’s turnaround strategy, which hinges on securing a steady supply of products from national brands. Take Dbest Products Inc., which has been selling its rolling carts to Bed Bath & Beyond for more than a decade. In early September, the company for the first time asked Bed Bath & Beyond to pay upfront for its products. “We requested to alter our payment terms to payment in advance and they said no — politely,” Dbest Products Chief Executive Officer Richard Elden said. He says he previously sold around “six figures” worth of wholesale products to Bed Bath & Beyond annually.

Two former MoviePass Inc. executives were charged with securities and wire fraud for allegedly scheming to defraud investors of the parent of the bankrupt company, Bloomberg News reported. Theodore Farnsworth, 60, of Miami, and J. Mitchell Lowe, 70, of Miami Beach, are accused of making false representations relating to Helios & Matheson Analytics Inc., which bought MoviePass in 2017 and ran it until it collapsed into bankruptcy in 2020. Farnsworth is the former chief executive officer of Helios & Matheson, while Lowe was MoviePass’s CEO from 2016 to 2020. Prosecutors allege the two men told investors that MoviePass’s plan to allow subscribers to see unlimited movies in theaters for $9.95 had been tested, was sustainable and would be profitable — while knowing it was simply a “temporary marketing gimmick” to gain new customers, artificially inflate the stock price and attract investors. They are also accused of falsely claiming that the company had technology that allowed it to generate revenue by analyzing and monetizing the data it collected from subscribers, and made misleading statements “about the positive impact that multiple revenue streams (other than subscription fees) were having on MoviePass’s profitability and self-sufficiency.”

Payments and software company Ebix Inc. is seeking to raise cash to pay back some $600 million in debt due early next year, but time is running short as it awaits regulatory approval for a public offering in India while facing allegations of improper accounting from short sellers, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Nasdaq-listed Ebix, based in Johns Creek, Ga., today does the majority of its business in India. Once an enterprise software company for the insurance industry, it rapidly transformed into an international payments and software business through a series of debt-funded acquisitions in India under longtime Chief Executive Robin Raina. But the company’s rapid growth abroad is threatening to come to an abrupt stop, as a cooling market for Indian startups and allegations of accounting impropriety from short sellers are putting obstacles in front of the company’s ability to raise cash and repay the debt due next year. In a statement, Ebix denied any wrongdoing in its accounting and said the company has multiple avenues to refinance its debts coming due next year. The company hasn’t been charged with any form of wrongdoing by authorities. As of June 30, the company reported only $68 million of cash on hand. Despite its multiple acquisitions, Ebix said it has struggled to generate cash since the pandemic started due to a drop-off in travel-related revenue and it intends to use around $350 million in proceeds from a listing in India of EbixCash, one of its major payments subsidiaries, to help pay back its debts.

After three years in bankruptcy court and many months of negotiations, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester (N.Y.) and more than 400 sexual abuse survivors with claims in the diocese’s chapter 11 bankruptcy have agreed to terms, the Rochester Beacon reported. “There’s still a long road ahead,” predicts James Cali, chairman of the bankruptcy’s official creditors committee. Formed by the U.S. Trustee to represent survivors’ interests, the creditors committee worked out the settlement’s terms with the diocese. Anticipating a flood of claims under the New York Child Victims Act, the diocese asked for court protection in September 2019, a month after the CVA took effect. The CVA temporarily lifted a statute of limitations that had kept survivors of long-past abuse suffered as children from going after their abusers. A virtual tsunami of CVA cases filed against Catholic churches across the state followed. The Rochester diocese was the first to file for bankruptcy protection in New York. Dioceses in Buffalo, Syracuse and Rockville Center, Long Island, followed and remain to be resolved. Filed Thursday in the Western District of New York Bankruptcy Court’s Rochester Division by the diocese, the agreement calls for the diocese and its parishes to jointly contribute $55 million to a fund to compensate survivors. The bankruptcy will not be finally resolved until the diocese puts forward a reorganization plan that creditors agree to and Bankruptcy Judge Paul Warren signs off on.

Birchbox is weighing its options, including chapter 11 bankruptcy, sources have told WWD.com. In a letter to creditors sent Tuesday, Birchbox’s parent company FemTec Health, which acquired the business last year, said those owed money from Birchbox could opt into shares of FemTec instead. “We believe, in the best interests of Birchbox and the entire FMTC family of companies spanning the U.S. and Europe, a chapter 11 or some equivalent structure may be necessary,” the letter read. Birchbox was founded in 2010 by Katia Beauchamp and Hayley Barna as the original beauty subscription box service, but the company has struggled in recent years. The letter said Birchbox’s revenue projections dropped from $74 million to $47 million, even following a $30 million infusion from FemTec.

Garrett Motion Inc., a maker of turbochargers and other automotive equipment, is exploring strategic options including a sale, Bloomberg News reported. The Rolle, Switzerland-based company is working with an adviser on a possible sale. Garrett is expected to attract interest from companies looking to enhance their electric-vehicle operations. Garrett, originally known as Honeywell Transportation Systems, was spun off in 2018. It filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2020 after struggling with loan repayments. The company emerged from bankruptcy last year with the support of stakeholders including Centerbridge Partners and Oaktree Capital Management, according to a statement. Led by President and Chief Executive Officer Olivier Rabiller, Garrett makes turbo-charging systems for electrified vehicles. It generated about $3.6 billion in revenue in 2021.

A company that owns biomass electricity plants in West Enfield and Jonesboro and had access to millions in state subsidies to help it stay afloat has filed for bankruptcy, stating it owes $17.8 million to creditors including an energy market investor, the states of Maine and New Hampshire, and Maine loggers, the Bangor Daily News reported. Stored Solar LLC and all but one of its subsidiaries filed for chapter 11 protection in September in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Bangor. The filing comes six years after Maine lawmakers passed a $13 million bailout of the state’s biomass industry, which uses waste wood to produce electricity, with the aim of preserving electric plants and logging jobs. Stored Solar was one of two companies to benefit from the subsidy package, which used taxpayer dollars to guarantee biomass producers above-market prices for their electricity. But the company, which bought the West Enfield and Jonesboro plants in 2016 after previous owner Covanta shut them down, only ran the plants intermittently following the bailout’s passage. The West Enfield plant hasn’t produced power since December 2020 while the Jonesboro plant last produced power earlier this year, in June, according to records from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Months into its restart efforts in West Enfield and Jonesboro, a trade association representing Maine loggers, the Professional Logging Contractors of Maine, alleged that some of its members supplying Stored Solar weren’t being paid. The company said in late March 2017 that it had paid the loggers and settled what it called an “invoicing dispute.” But Dana Doran, executive director of the Professional Logging Contractors of Maine, said this week that Stored Solar still has not repaid those debts.

An Iowa grain company that does business in Minnesota has gone bankrupt and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture is advising farmers that they may need to file a claim against the company, AgWeek.com reported. Global Processing Inc. is based in Kanawha, Iowa, and operating in Hope, Minn. The company filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy on Oct. 24. Anyone who has not received payment for grain or who had grain stored with Global Processing Inc. is encouraged to submit a bond claim with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. The Hope facility, in accordance with state law, held a $50,000 bond with the state. Farmers should submit a claim as soon as possible. The deadline for claims is April 24, 2023. The ag department will review all claims to determine which claims are valid. In the case of multiple valid claims, a pro-rated share will be calculated and dispersed.