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Bankrupt Crypto Hedge Fund Co-Founder Su Zhu Arrested

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Authorities arrested disgraced crypto hedge fund co-founder Su Zhu Friday, the latest detainment of a star from the crypto industry’s last bull cycle, YahooFinance.com reported. Singaporean authorities apprehended Su Zhu, 36, Friday afternoon at the country’s Changi Airport while he was attempting to leave the country. Singaporean courts placed a “committal order” against him according to Teneo, the court-appointed joint liquidators in the bankruptcy for Zhu’s firm, Three Arrows Capital Ltd. The court order, placed on Sept. 25, came as a consequence of Zhu’s “deliberate failure” to cooperate with Teneo’s investigations. He was sentenced to four months' imprisonment. The Singaporean courts have granted a similar order for Three Arrows' other co-founder, Kyle Davies, though "his whereabouts remain unknown at this point in time," said a Teneo spokesman. Separately, the Monetary Authority of Singapore earlier this month prohibited Zhu and Davies from conducting regulated investment activity for nine years each, according to Teneo.

Crypto Exchange Gemini Pulled Funds from Crypto Lender Genesis Months Before Bankruptcy Filing

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Crypto exchange Gemini Trust Co. withdrew hundreds of millions of dollars from Genesis Global Holdco LLC several months before the lender froze deposits and ultimately filed for bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported. Genesis and Gemini offered customers in the so-called Earn program the opportunity to generate yields on their crypto tokens. The service let customers of the Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss-owned exchange lend their tokens through Genesis. In August 2022, Gemini took out about $282 million in cryptocurrency from Genesis. The funds withdrawn from Genesis were used to build out a reserve intended to ensure Gemini Earn customers could make immediate redemptions. None of the money went directly to Gemini’s billionaire founders, the Winklevoss twins. Days after the collapse of FTX sent the already beleaguered crypto market into a spiral, Genesis froze customer withdrawals. In January, it filed for chapter 11 protection in New York. Gemini has since filed a claim in the bankruptcy court seeking $1.1 billion on behalf of Earn users. In the months since the initial withdrawal freeze, Gemini, Genesis and its parent company Digital Currency Group have been locked in settlement negotiations that have included public sparring between DCG’s founder Barry Silbert and the Winklevoss twins.

Ohio Senate Passes Bill that Would Help Boy Scouts Abuse Victims Get More Settlement Money

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Ohio victims of child sexual abuse while in the Boy Scouts of America could see more compensation for the crimes committed against them under legislation passed by the state Senate yesterday in a unanimous vote, and expected to be approved in the House, the Associated Press reported. The bill’s passage comes amid the organization’s bankruptcy settlement, first filed in 2020 after tens of thousands of men nationwide brought forth claims they had been sexually abused by their Scout leaders. The organization filed bankruptcy in an attempt to continue operating while still partially compensating victims after an onslaught of lawsuits against them. Nearly 2,000 abuse claims have been filed in Ohio. Currently, the amount victims receive from the organization’s settlement depends on the length of the statute of limitations for civil claims in the state that they live in, as well as the length and severity of their abuse. The legislation voids the state’s current civil statute of limitations in bankruptcy cases, in an effort to ensure Ohio victims of Boy Scouts abuse get more compensation. By voiding Ohio’s existing cutoff of 12 years, the bill would ensure that any victim filing a claim receives all of the money they’re owed through the settlement, rather than a fraction of it.

Crypto Lender BlockFi Cleared to Repay Customers Through Liquidation Plan

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Failed crypto lender BlockFi Inc. won bankruptcy court approval on its plan for shutting down its business, a milestone that could result in customers getting back a portion of what they’re owed by the end of the year, Bloomberg News reported. Bankruptcy Judge Michael Kaplan said during a hearing yesterday that he would approve BlockFi’s liquidation plan which was supported by a committee representing customer interests and creditors that voted to support it. Some BlockFi creditors are slated to receive partial repayment in Bitcoin or Ethereum, according to court documents. BlockFi unsecured creditors could get between roughly 35% to 63% of what they’re owed, according to an August court filing. The amount creditors ultimately receive hinges on whether BlockFi succeeds in litigation against FTX and other bankrupt crypto firms. BlockFi has said the outcome of its disputes with Sam Bankman-Fried’s platform and failed crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital could swing creditor recoveries by $1 billion. The liquidation plan was approved after BlockFi settled a dispute with the creditors committee over potential legal claims against the company’s senior management. BlockFi largely blamed its failure on FTX, which melted down last year amid allegations of fraud, while the committee alleged management ignored red flags before lending to Bankman-Fried’s platform.

Sam Bankman-Fried's Trial to Test Dueling Explanations for Collapse of Crypto Exchange

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In U.S. prosecutors' telling, Sam Bankman-Fried embezzled money from depositors in his FTX cryptocurrency exchange ever since he launched it in 2019, and the resulting shortfall led directly to its collapse as crypto prices swooned last year, Reuters reported. But in his own version and in explanations put forth by his lawyers, Bankman-Fried thought FTX, like a bank, could make investments with customers' money as long as they were able to withdraw it — and he did not know that actions taken by his closest colleagues had jeopardized the availability of funds. Over the course of six weeks starting on Oct. 3, a federal jury in Manhattan is due to weigh these dueling narratives during Bankman-Fried's criminal trial on fraud charges, before determining whether the 31-year-old former billionaire is guilty on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy. Bankman-Fried, who quit his job as a quantitative trader at Wall Street firm Jane Street to found crypto hedge fund Alameda Research in 2017, has pleaded not guilty.

Struggling Airline SAS Weighs Bids From Equity Investors

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Scandinavia’s biggest airline SAS AB has received a final round of bids from potential suitors looking to invest in the carrier as part of a rescue plan to shore up its ailing finances, Reuters reported. The Stockholm-based company, which is going through a chapter 11 reorganization in the U.S., needs to raise at least 9.5 billion Swedish kronor ($856 million) in new equity and convert or cut its debt pile of about 20 billion kronor. Chief Executive Officer Anko van der Werff has previously said the amount of equity is not set and could go higher. Shares in SAS fell as much as 13% in Stockholm on Tuesday, giving the company a market value of just $183 million. The airline warned in April that there would be no value in its existing shares at the end of the restructuring. The governments of Denmark and Sweden each own a 21.8% stake in SAS, but only Denmark has said it’s open to adding to its holding. Sweden indicated it will accept a conversion of debt it is owed into equity, but that it will not participate in a new capital raise. Norway’s government said it won’t contribute any new equity.

Telehealth Firm Files for Bankruptcy

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A telehealth firm based in Charlotte has filed for chapter 11 protection, according to records at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of North Carolina, the Charlotte Business Journal reported. Let's Talk Interactive filed the voluntary bankruptcy petition on Sept. 21. The company's secured and unsecured debt — excluding debts owed to insiders or affiliates — is less than $7.5 million, the filing shows. As a result, the firm was eligible to file for bankruptcy under subchapter five, which doesn't require it to receive creditors' approval for its repayment plan. The company estimated its assets and liabilities totaled between $1 million and $10 million, with an estimated creditors count between 1 and 49. Founded in 2001 by CEO Art Cooksey, Let's Talk Interactive's customizable telehealth solutions give health care and mental health professionals the ability to provide to services in a way that helps eliminate problems with patient accessibility. The company has also partnered with hospitals, assisted living facilities, prisons, rural community centers and disaster relief zones to install its telehealth kiosk machines. These kiosks can help facilitate virtual therapy sessions, videoconferencing, and check-in uses, among other things. Read more.

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National Real Estate Brokerage Files Bankruptcy with $60 Million in Debt

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A national real estate brokerage filed bankruptcy in Florida Southern District Court to restructure nearly $60 million in debt following a slew of state lawsuits over its marketing practices, the South Florida Business Journal reported. Boca Raton-based MV Realty Holdings submitted a chapter 11 petition on Sept. 22 on behalf of all of its entities across 30 U.S. states claiming it owes $58,763,035.80 to three lenders. Its largest creditor is a Monroe Capital credit facility for $40 million, followed by two private credit funds by Goodwood Lenders for a combined $18,763,035.80. The company currently lists its assets between $10 million and $50 million — so it owes more than what it's currently worth. MV Realty said that since last year it has been financially burdened by legal fees associated with lawsuits filed by the state governments of Florida, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Ohio, North Carolina, New Jersey and Indiana against the firm and other individual officers and licensed real estate brokers working in connection with its Homeowner Benefit Agreements.

Houston Commercial Real Estate Firm Files for Chapter 11

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Hartman SPE, LLC, a Houston-based office, retail and industrial real estate firm, filed chapter 11 protection, RealtyNewsReport.com reported. Silver Star Properties REIT is a transitioning company that was formerly affiliated with the Allen Hartman real estate investment organization. At the beginning of 2023, Harman SPE had over 40 office, retail and warehouse properties with about 7 million SF located in Houston, San Antonio and Dallas. Silver Star Properties has been disposing of its Texas-focused commercial property portfolio as it pursues a plan to become a REIT concentrated on self-storage properties. In the 1980s, Houston investor Al Hartman founded the predecessor roots of Hartman Short Term Income Properties XX. Mr. Hartman is no longer with the firm and CEO Mark Torok was replaced recently.

St. Louis-Based Retailer Plans Headquarters Layoffs Pending Bankruptcy Sale

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Soft Surroundings, the Creve Coeur-based retailer, has notified 181 headquarters employees that some will definitely lose their jobs while others might still keep their employment under a new owner, the St. Louis Business Journal reported. The retailer, which sells women’s clothes, beauty products, gifts and home décor, earlier this month said it plans to sell its direct-to-consumer assets to online retailer Coldwater Creek as part of a restructuring under a chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. If approved, the plan calls for shuttering the local retailer's brick-and-mortar stores. In a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notice received Monday by the state of Missouri, Soft Surroundings said that on Sept. 19 it notified all headquarters employees that if it's not successful in selling all or part of its business, it's likely the facility will close, "in which case all employees will be terminated." There also might be "additional layoffs" if the buyer doesn't take on all of the company's remaining workforce, officials told the state.