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Cybersecurity Company Founded by Ex-NSA Director Files for Bankruptcy

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Cybersecurity company IronNet, founded by a former director of the U.S. National Security Agency, has filed for bankruptcy protection in Delaware, seeking to sell its assets, Reuters reported. Bankruptcy Judge Brendan Shannon on Friday signed off on some of the company's initial steps in bankruptcy during a court hearing, including approving an agreement that would restore the company's access to customer data and other key information held by Amazon Web Services. The McLean, Va.-based company, which filed for chapter 11 on Thursday, had terminated its 104 employees and shut down operations on Sept. 29 after a series of setbacks including a shareholder lawsuit, delayed payments from foreign government clients, difficulties finalizing new client contracts, and the termination of key cloud computing services provided by Amazon Web Services. "Simply put, the company ran out of money," IronNet president and CFO Cameron Pforr wrote in court documents. IronNet, which owes about $35 million to its creditors, initially believed it would have to pursue a chapter 7 liquidation, according to its court filings. But two bidders stepped forward to fund a chapter 11 restructuring that would allow for a more orderly sale of its assets. IronNet intends to fund its bankruptcy with a $10 million loan provided by IT networking company ITC Global. That loan would be converted into company equity if no buyer steps forward during the bankruptcy, according to court documents. IronNet will use the loan proceeds to conduct an auction of its assets, restore its cloud computing services, re-hire terminated employees, and continue to serve its customers. The company intends to complete a bankruptcy sale within 90 days.

Rite Aid Files for Bankruptcy

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Rite Aid filed for bankruptcy on Sunday in New Jersey, unable to find the money to settle hundreds of federal, state and private lawsuits alleging it oversupplied prescription painkillers, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The filing puts all those suits on hold. As part of the restructuring, the company will close more of its 2,100 stores and name a new chief executive. Its collapse imperils some of the roughly 47,000 jobs at the company, which just celebrated its 61st anniversary. Lenders will provide the company with about $200 million in new financing as part of a plan to restructure more than $3 billion of existing debt in chapter 11. MedImpact, a pharmacy benefit management firm, has offered to buy Rite Aid’s Elixir segment for $575 million, though an auction will be held to see if Rite Aid can find a higher bid. Jeffrey Stein, head of a financial advisory firm, will take over as Rite Aid’s chief executive. The drugstore chain’s current interim CEO Elizabeth Burr will remain on the board. The company faces a Justice Department complaint that Rite Aid pharmacists filled opioid prescriptions despite clear “red flags.” The DOJ alleged that Rite Aid ignored evidence that its stores were dispensing unlawful prescriptions, deleted internal notes about suspicious prescriptions and directed managers to tell pharmacists “to be mindful of everything that is put in writing.” Rite Aid has denied the allegations.

RVL Pharmaceuticals Subsidiaries File for Bankruptcy

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RVL Pharmaceuticals said several of its operating subsidiaries are filing for bankruptcy in a prepackaged deal with lender Athyrium Capital and other key stakeholders, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The reorganization will give the RVL subsidiaries a pathway to reduce their debt, streamline operations and position themselves under new ownership. RVL will wind down all operations aside from the three subsidiaries that are reorganizing. Shares of RVL will be canceled once the wind-down is finished, expected next year. The company said there will likely be no recovery for public shareholders. Through the reorganization, Athyrium will exchange its outstanding debt into equity in the newly formed entity. The operating subsidiaries that will reorganize are: RevitaLid Pharmaceutical, RVL Pharmaceuticals and RVL Pharmacy.

Bankrupt Envision Healthcare Gets OK to Split in Two, Cut $7 Billion Debt

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Envision Healthcare, which is backed by private equity firm KKR & Co and provides outsourced emergency department services to hospitals, on Wednesday received U.S. bankruptcy court approval to split into two companies and cut over $7 billion in debt, Reuters reported. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez approved Envision's restructuring at a court hearing in Houston. Lopez commended Envision's bankruptcy lawyers for putting together an "incredibly complex" financial transaction while minimizing disruption to patients needing emergency care and the more than 20,000 doctors employed by Envision. "At the end of the day, this is going to remain a viable business, and those people have not been forgotten," Judge Lopez said. The bankruptcy restructuring will split Envision Healthcare into two separate companies, Envision Physician Services (EVPS) and AMSURG. EVPS will focus on providing doctors to hospital emergency rooms, intensive care units and birthing suites, while AMSURG will operate outpatient surgery centers specializing in gastroenterology, ophthalmology and orthopedic care.

Party City Completes Restructuring, Exits From Chapter 11

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Party City Holdco completed its restructuring and exited from chapter 11 bankruptcy, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The celebrations and party goods retailer said it eliminated nearly $1 billion in debt, enhanced its liquidity and optimized its store portfolio after negotiations resulted in improved lease terms. The company also exited from less productive stores. It plans to move forward with about 800 locations nationwide. Party City’s restructuring, approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas in September, resulted in a new exit ABL facility of $562 million and a $75 million new money investment to fund go-forward operations and distributions. In connection with the completed restructuring, Chief Executive Brad Weston intends to step down on Nov. 3. Sean Thompson, currently president and chief commercial officer, will transition to interim CEO.

CFTC Sues Former CEO of Bankrupt Crypto Lender Voyager

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The co-founder and former chief executive officer of Voyager Digital Ltd. broke derivatives rules while at the helm of the crypto lender, leading to its bankruptcy and $1.7 billion in customer losses, U.S. regulators alleged yesterday, Bloomberg News reported. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed a lawsuit against Stephen Ehrlich in US federal court in New York, claiming he and Voyager “fraudulently solicited participation in and operated a digital asset trading and custody platform.” The agency accused the firm of luring customers with promises of returns as high as 12% on certain crypto holdings and making misleading statements about the platform’s safety. Through those enticements, Voyager facilitated billions of dollars worth of transactions involving digital assets that were commodities, including Bitcoin and Circle’s USD Coin, according to the CFTC. Voyager was one of the dominoes to fall in 2022’s crypto chaos. The industry is still reeling from the tumult, which culminated in the collapse of crypto trading giant FTX. The criminal trial of FTX’s co-founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, began last week in New York.

MLB Pushes Bankrupt Broadcaster to Ditch or Commit to 2024 TV Deals

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Major League Baseball on Wednesday pushed a bankrupt sports broadcaster to cancel or clearly commit to five teams' TV broadcast contracts, saying the teams can't plan for the 2024 season without clarity on their TV contracts, Reuters reported. MLB asked a U.S. bankruptcy judge in Houston, Texas to force Diamond Sports Group to make a clear decision on whether it will broadcast 2024 games for the Atlanta Braves, Cleveland Guardians, Detroit Tigers, Milwaukee Brewers and Texas Rangers. MLB asked the court to compel a contract decision late Wednesday, along with a separate filing opposing Diamond's request for more time to file a restructuring plan with the court. MLB warned that the league could find itself scrambling to broadcast games for multiple teams next year, as it did this year for the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres. "At the moment, MLB and the Clubs can only guess which Clubs the Debtors may continue to support and which may be left without a telecast partner," MLB said.

Judge Approves Liquidation for Mitchell Gold

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Home furnishings manufacturer Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams has been ordered into liquidation by a federal bankruptcy court judge responding to a request by its primary lender, PNC Financial Services Group, the Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal reported. The manufacturer in August became the third prominent North Carolina furniture maker to abruptly cease operations, leaving its 533 employees in Hiddenite, Statesville and Taylorsville without jobs. Like United Furniture Industries and Klaussner Furniture Industries, Mitchell Gold cited an inability to secure future funding as the primary reason for shutting down. Recently, Judge Laurie Silverstein ordered the liquidation, saying it is "in the best interests of the debtors and their respective entities, creditors and all parties." Judge Silverstein did not address the reasoning behind the decision to convert to liquidation nor deadlines for completing the process.

Boy Scouts of America Releases Files on Banned Volunteers to Settlement Trust

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The Boy Scouts of America has turned over a trove of records that survivors of sexual abuse and their lawyers have long sought from the youth group, which emerged earlier this year from bankruptcy with a plan to pay roughly $2.4 billion to resolve more than 82,000 individual abuse claims, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The youth group last week provided the majority of the more than 7,766 records regarding so-called ineligible volunteers, maintained to keep sexual abusers out of its ranks, to a settlement trust that helps distribute payments to survivors. Most of the files haven’t previously been made available to claimants and their lawyers. “There are over 6,300 new ineligible volunteer files that I just got access to,” said Chris Hurley, a member of the settlement trustee’s advisory committee and a lawyer for sexual-abuse survivors associated with the Boy Scouts. Access to the records could strengthen victims’ cases against alleged perpetrators and help survivors decide whether to pursue independent reviews of their claims, which would cost them $20,000 each but potentially result in more compensation than other settlement options.