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Bankruptcy Auction Begins for Crypto Lender Voyager

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The auction for the assets of bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital Ltd. began Tuesday in New York, the Wall Street Journal reported. The auction was being conducted at the midtown office of investment banker Moelis. The winning bid or bids will be revealed in a hearing scheduled for Sept. 29, though they could be disclosed sooner, according to a company spokesperson. It isn't clear how many bidders will show up. Voyager said in early August it had been contacted by 88 parties, and 22 were actively in discussions. Crypto exchange FTX previously offered $15 million in cash for Voyager customer information and an undisclosed amount for the assets. Voyager called it a “low-ball bid.” Voyager, based in New York and traded publicly in Toronto, filed for bankruptcy protection in July after it was flooded with withdrawal requests. Its own investments were either frozen or lost value in the spring meltdown in cryptocurrency prices.

Celsius Network Plots a Comeback After a Crypto Crash

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The collapse of the experimental cryptocurrency bank Celsius Network was one of the main drivers of this spring’s crypto crash, which erased nearly $1 trillion from the market and ruined thousands of investors. Celsius filed for bankruptcy in July. Now it’s angling for a comeback, the New York Times reported. At a meeting with employees on Sept. 8, Alex Mashinsky, the chief executive of Celsius, outlined an audacious plan to revive the firm, according to a recording of the event. He and Oren Blonstein, another Celsius executive, said that they hoped to rebuild the company with a focus on custody — storing people’s cryptocurrencies for them, and then charging fees on certain types of transactions. They said the project was code-named Kelvin, after the unit of temperature. Mashinsky faced skeptical questions from employees. He compared the rebuilding process to corporate turnarounds at some of the world’s most famous brands, including Pepsi, which went bankrupt in 1923 and 1931. A recording of the meeting was sent to Tiffany Fong, a Celsius customer who has made YouTube videos about the springtime crash. She shared the recording with The Times, which confirmed its authenticity. In a statement, a Celsius spokeswoman said the company regularly held internal meetings to “prepare for all scenarios.” Celsius is attempting a revival at a moment of transition for the crypto industry, as start-ups whose reckless practices triggered the downturn try to regroup. In recent months, other instigators of the crash — including Do Kwon, the trash-talking founder of the failed cryptocurrency Luna — have also pursued fresh crypto ventures.

DOJ Bankruptcy Watchdog Opposes Retention of Infowars Advisers

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The U.S. Justice Department's bankruptcy watchdog said on Monday that a law firm and chief restructuring officer hired by Infowars' parent company failed to disclose they were working for the business at the same time they represented other Infowars affiliates during an earlier chapter 11 case, MarketWatch.com reported. U.S. Trustee Kevin Epstein said in court filings that the law firm Shannon & Lee LLP and proposed CRO W. Marc Schwartz failed to disclose the dual representations in retention applications in the first bankruptcy which involved corporate affiliates holding Infowars intellectual property. During the first bankruptcy, both professionals also represented Infowars parent Free Speech Systems LLC which was not in chapter 11 at-the-time, the U.S. Trustee said. The earlier Infowars bankruptcy was dismissed and FSS subsequently filed chapter 11 in July. Epstein said the judge overseeing FSS' chapter 11 case should deny Shannon & Lee and Mr. Schwartz's requests to be retained in the current bankruptcy case because they failed to comply with chapter 11 disclosure rules meant to weed-out potential conflicts of interest when they didn't disclose their connection to FSS in the first Infowars bankruptcy. Epstein said that the judge should deny the retention applications "to protect the integrity of the bankruptcy system."

Alex Jones Saw Profit in Sandy Hook Hoax Claims, Victims' Lawyer Says at Trial

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A lawyer for families of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook mass shooting told a Connecticut jury on Tuesday that conspiracy theorist Alex Jones will never stop profiting off destructive falsehoods unless he pays for the lies he told about the massacre, Reuters reported. The lawyer, Christopher Mattei, made his assessment during opening statements at a trial being held in a state court about 20 miles from where 20 children and six staff members were killed on Dec. 14, 2012, at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Jurors will decide how much in damages Jones owes 13 family members of victims as well as one FBI agent for claiming the massacre was a hoax. Jones' trial in Waterbury, Conn., comes one month after a jury in Austin, Texas, awarded two parents $49.3 million in a similar case. Infowars is based in Texas. Mattei told jurors it was important to stop Jones and his right-wing Infowars brand from "preying on people who are helpless" and encouraging years of harassment from Jones' followers. He said Infowars drew millions of followers with bogus claims about Sandy Hook, and made as much as $800,000 a day selling supplements, doomsday supplies and other products.

Olympia Sports Files For Bankruptcy Protection To Liquidate Remaining Stores

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Maine-based Olympia Sports Acquisitions, LLC filed for chapter 11 protection with plans to liquidate its remaining 35 stores, citing poor sales, online competition and residual problems from the COVID-19 pandemic, SGBOnline.com reported. The Auburn, Maine-based company filed for chapter 11 protection on Sunday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, DE, with $28.7 million in unsecured debt owed to 570 creditors. The case was filed alongside its owner, RSG Acquisitions, LLC and several of its non-operating affiliates. In July, Olympia Sports, which once had more than 200 stores on the East Coast, confirmed that it was shuttering its remaining 35 stores by the end of September, and liquidation sales at all its stores began. Olympia Sports was founded in 1975 by Edward Manganello, who opened his first store at the Maine Mall in South Portland. By 2013, it had 226 locations from Maine to Virginia. In October 2019, Olympia Sports was acquired by CriticalPoint, a Los Angeles-based private investment firm, and 76 stores were closed at the time. Olympia Sports became part of CriticalPoint’s active lifestyle platform, mainly consisting of the JackRabbit running chain, which it acquired in 2017. Last December, Fleet Feet acquired the JackRabbit running stores, with the Olympia Sports chain remaining under the ownership of CriticalPoint.

Clinic Chain Files for Bankruptcy as Payment Cutoff Nears

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Borrego Community Health Foundation announced Sept. 12 that it has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy, but it will keep its clinics open, Becker's Hospital Review reported. The Borrego Springs, Calif.-based organization said the bankruptcy filing was driven by a notification from California Health and Human Services that payments for Borrego Health Medi-Cal services will be suspended Sept. 29. Borrego said the bankruptcy filing will prevent the payment suspension from taking effect. Borrego will also work to resolve ongoing state and federal investigations during the bankruptcy process, the organization said. "Unfortunately, the misguided action by [Department of Health Care Services] jeopardizes patients and has led us to make a difficut decision to protect our patients and their access to care," Borrego Health CEO Rose MacIsaac said in a Sept. 12 news release. "Our mission to provide high-quality local access to those most in need drives us forward and this filing with the court will allow us to continue to provide care as we do today while we secure the future of healthcare for our patients." Borrego Health has 21 locations and served more than 120,000 patients in 2021. The organization provides a variety of services, including primary, pediatric, behavioral and urgent care.

Endo Seeks to Block Government Opioid Lawsuits During its Bankruptcy

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Endo International plc sued hundreds of state and local governments on Friday, seeking a ruling that their lawsuits accusing the company of helping fuel the U.S. opioid epidemic must be paused during the pharmaceutical company's bankruptcy, Reuters reported. In a filing in U.S. bankruptcy court in Manhattan, Endo said if those lawsuits are allowed to continue, the company will not be able to focus on successfully completing its restructuring, including a comprehensive resolution of the opioid claims. Endo filed for chapter 11 protection on Aug. 17, seeking to address its high debt load and resolve more than 3,100 lawsuits accusing the company of deceptively marketing prescription opioids like Opana by downplaying the risk of addiction. Before filing for bankruptcy, Endo reached a $450 million settlement with more than 30 states to resolve the lawsuits, but it still faces litigation risk from state and local governments that have not agreed to participate in the settlement. Other state and local governments, including Florida and West Virginia, had previously settled their opioid claims against Endo.

Eagle Senior Living Emerges from Bankruptcy

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Nine months after Eagle Senior Living voluntarily began a chapter 11 process in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, the company announced Thursday that it has successfully completed a comprehensive financial restructuring, McKnights Senior Living reported. The Wilmington, Del.-based company operates independent living, assisted living and memory care communities in seven states: Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, Ohio, Tennessee and Wisconsin. “Through this process, we have secured a bolstered financial structure, allowing our communities to be the place for residents to do more of what they love for years to come,” Todd Topliff, president of American Eagle Delaware Holding Co., said in a press release. The sale of the Vista Lake assisted living and memory care community in Leesburg, FL, to Atlantis Senior Living marks the close of the chapter 11 case. In February, Atlantis was among the bidders for Vista Lake, according to court records. In addition to Atlantis, Eagle received qualified bids for the senior living community from Illuminate HC and Gold Standard of Care by the bid deadline. Illuminate initially won the bid to purchase the property for $7.1 million. As of July 1, however, the company had defaulted on the terms of the sale, according to American Eagle Delaware Holding Co. The court agreed and allowed Eagle to follow up with second-place bidder Atlantis at a $4 million purchase price.

Apollo Cleared to Lend $700 Million to Bankrupt Airline SAS in ‘Unusual’ Deal

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Bankruptcy Judge Michael Wiles on Friday approved a $700 million financing package for SAS AB from Apollo Global Management, though he said features of the deal concern him, Bloomberg News reported. The financing, divided into two $350 million draws, will allow Apollo to convert the debt into stock in the bankrupt airline or participate in an equity raise tied to SAS’s eventual exit from chapter 11 protection under certain circumstances. Judge Wiles called the financing “unusual” and questioned whether it was legally viable. “I will approve the arrangement, although not without some significant reservations,” Judge Wiles said in a hearing held by telephone Friday. “To be honest, I still have some misgivings about the whole idea.” Judge Wiles said the structure is akin to SAS selling options on stock that does not yet exist, a concept he found legally murky. While questioning SAS advisers in court, he asked whether the deal might dissuade potential suitors for the airline from making proposals that would ultimately be better for the company’s creditors. Lawyers and bankers for SAS emphasized that the airline has the ability to terminate Apollo’s options by paying fees to the asset manager. They also argued that the deal is a substantially cheaper way to finance its operations than a standard loan arrangement and is allowed under bankruptcy rules.

Austin Health Tech Startup Files for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy

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Blood flow imaging company Dynamic Light Inc. on Sept. 6 filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy in the U.S. Western District of Texas, Austin Business Journal reported. As opposed to a chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, which typically involves a company restructuring its operations and staying in business, a chapter 7 bankruptcy filing sets the table for a company's assets to be liquidated and its operations to cease. Dynamic Light was founded in 2018, and its mission is “to enable real-time blood flow imaging to improve patient care and lower health care costs,” according to its website. The startup's LinkedIn page shows that it has fewer than 10 employees, including six registered on the platform. The company, based in downtown Austin at 2025 Guadalupe St., reported having between $50,000 and $100,000 in assets against $1 million to $10 million in liabilities. Dynamic Light Board Chair Robert Teague signed the filing as an authorized representative of the company. Elizabeth Hoff is the company’s CEO, according to its website. Dynamic Light is being represented in bankruptcy by Stephen Sather of Barron and Newburger PC. “The board made a decision that it was in the best interest of the creditors to wind up the company at this time,” Sather said Sept. 8.