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Online retailer Enjoy Technology Inc. received approval from a U.S. bankruptcy court on Friday to sell its business to technology repair company Asurion LLC for $110 million, Reuters reported. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge J. Kate Stickles in Wilmington, Del., signed off on the sale at a hearing on Friday, saying it was a reasonable exercise of the debtor's business judgment and was a fair, arms-length transaction. Enjoy, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based startup, filed for bankruptcy protection on June 30 with $26 million in debt. Asurion offered to provide the company with a $55 million bankruptcy loan and to buy it. Enjoy had contacted more than 30 other potential suitors since filing for bankruptcy, but it canceled a planned auction after none of them chose to outbid Asurion. Founded in 2014 by former Apple Inc and JCPenney Co executive Ron Johnson, the company filed for chapter 11 protection less than nine months after going public through a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC). Enjoy sells smartphones and other technology products in the U.S., U.K. and Canada, delivering products and providing tech support to customers' homes.

Lawyers for U.S. military veterans suing 3M Co. over its earplugs are trying to block the manufacturer’s plan to resolve the yearslong liability case in bankruptcy court, the Wall Street Journal reported. Aearo Technologies LLC, a 3M subsidiary that once produced the earplugs, late last month accepted responsibility for claims of hearing-loss from more than 230,000 veterans who have said they used the earplugs during their time in the military. As part of the move, Aearo absolved the Minnesota-based industrial conglomerate from liability for the earplugs. Aearo immediately filed for federal bankruptcy protection in Indianapolis. Bankruptcy provides corporate defendants, such as Aearo, leverage to settle mass liability claims. Companies in chapter 11 usually can’t be sued outside of bankruptcy court. Aearo said the bankruptcy should allow it to end trials and mediation talks between 3M and the claimants that have been under way in U.S. District Court in Pensacola, Fla., since 2019. “The verdicts were already outsized and untethered to reality,” Aearo said in its July 26 bankruptcy filing. Aearo said the case is now the largest product-liability civil case in the U.S. The prospect of a long, costly process for 3M to settle the claims is clouding the outlook for the company’s business performance and causing investors to be wary of 3M’s stock, according to industry analysts.

The U.S. Department of Justice has demanded more court oversight of Celsius Networks' plans to make employee severance payments and to sell bitcoins during the cryptocurrency lender's bankruptcy, Reuters reported. The U.S. Trustee, DOJ's bankruptcy watchdog, filed an objection on Wednesday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan opposing Celsius' proposed severance payments of $409,000 to 19 employees, following a separate objection Tuesday to the company's bitcoin mining proposal. In both objections, the DOJ called on the bankruptcy court to require more transparency from Celsius about its assets and plans to pay back creditors before allowing it to move forward. The DOJ said it may ask for a court-appointed examiner to ensure that Celsius is providing creditors with accurate information in the bankruptcy case, according to its filings. New Jersey-based Celsius did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday. Celsius filed for chapter 11 protection on July 13, listing a $1.19 billion deficit on its balance sheet. Its business model, as well as those of other crypto lenders, came under scrutiny following a sharp sell-off in the crypto market spurred by the collapse of major tokens terraUSD and luna in May.

Niche credit traders have a pitch for crypto holders locked out of their accounts at Voyager Digital Ltd. and Celsius Network LLC: Sell the rights to your coins at something like a 75% discount and let Wall Street worry about the rest, Bloomberg News reported. When crypto lenders Voyager and Celsius went bankrupt last month, they turned their customers into creditors. Those users cannot touch their coins and don’t know when they will get repaid, how much they might recoup or what form payouts could take. Now, an oft-overlooked corner of the credit market is offering an escape hatch. Bankruptcy claims traders — firms that deal in the payables of insolvent enterprises — are already circling the busted crypto platforms, offering quick cash payouts to customers who don’t want to or can’t afford to wait. The crypto bankruptcies are unusual because of who the platforms’ creditors are — overwhelmingly small, individual account holders — and the sheer number of them. Celsius had about 300,000 users with account balances of at least $100 as of July, while Voyager counts more than 3.5 million active users, according to court papers.

The Swarthmore Group, a Philadelphia stock-and-bond investment company that once counted the state, city and SEPTA pension plans among its fee-paying clients, has filed for bankruptcy liquidation, five weeks after shutting its doors and leaving managers demanding millions they say they are owed, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Records submitted to federal bankruptcy court Aug. 4 in Philadelphia with Swarthmore’s chapter 7 petition show the firm’s revenues had plunged to $1 million in the first seven months of 2022, down from about $4 million in calendar years 2020 and 2021. In June, the firm, founded and run by James E. Nevels, gave employees and clients two weeks’ notice that it was closing its doors, sending back investors’ money, and leaving staff to seek work elsewhere. As of March 30, Swarthmore had managed $1.5 billion, including about $400 million in stocks and the rest in bonds. It charged fees ranging from 0.25% of the bonds it bought for clients to about 1% of the value of clients’ stocks, with discounts for larger customers.

Endo International PLC, a pharmaceutical manufacturer facing thousands of lawsuits alleging it fueled the opioid addiction crisis, said Tuesday that it is likely to file for bankruptcy imminently, the Wall Street Journal reported. The company said that it is in negotiations with a group of senior lenders that it expects will result in an agreement for a chapter 11 filing. Endo also said that it is in discussions with opioid litigants as well as other creditors but didn’t say that it has reached a proposed deal with them. Endo, domiciled in Ireland with operations in Malvern, Pa., has been grappling for years against opioid-related lawsuits from state and local governments over its painkiller Opana. The company, which has denied liability in connection with the opioid crisis, discontinued Opana in 2017 at the request of the Food and Drug Administration. Endo has reached piecemeal settlements over opioid claims with states including Florida, Texas, New York, West Virginia and Alabama. But it still faces about 3,500 lawsuits from state and local governments, private healthcare providers and individuals. The company has also been struggling under $8 billion of debt as earnings declined in part driven by the loss of exclusivity for a key drug, Vasostrict.

A Revlon Inc. shareholder group petitioned in bankruptcy court for the formation of an official equity committee, citing the continued buoyancy in the company’s stock price as evidence its shares still have value, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. A minority shareholder group asked the court overseeing Revlon’s chapter 11 case to form an official committee to represent the interests of equity holders. The Justice Department’s bankruptcy division declined last month to form an equity committee, which would give shareholders an official voice in the chapter 11 case and put Revlon on the hook for their legal fees. Bankruptcy courts can order equity committees even after the Justice Department says no in situations where the interests of shareholders aren’t adequately represented. The stockholder group said Tuesday that Revlon might owe less than the $3.54 billion in bonds and loans it brought with it into bankruptcy. The beauty-products maker may not owe anything to lenders that were accidentally repaid in 2020 by their loan agent, Citigroup Inc., according to the shareholder motion. Lenders that were paid off by the bank returned roughly $385 million of that money to Citi, which has been fighting in federal court for nearly two years to claw back roughly $500 million more from other lenders. The shareholder group said it believes lenders that returned the money were under no obligation to do so “and therefore may not hold a valid claim against Revlon.” “Such a voluntary return of funds is effectively a gift,” the equity group said in Tuesday’s court filing. The shareholders also said that Citi’s inadvertent payoff “could be seen as ‘voluntary,’ thus canceling $500 million of debt.”

U.S. conspiracy theorist Alex Jones could end up owing as little as 10% of the $45.2 million in punitive damages that a Texas jury awarded to the parents of a Sandy Hook victim last week, legal experts told Reuters. A jury handed down the punitive damages' verdict on Friday and awarded the parents $4.1 million in compensatory damages on Thursday after a two-week trial in Austin, Texas, where Jones’ Infowars radio show and webcast is based. Jones was found last year to have defamed parents Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, whose 6-year-old son Jesse Lewis died in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012, by spreading lies that they were part of a government plot to stage the massacre. While juries have broad discretion on awards, Texas law caps punitive damages at $750,000 when economic losses are not involved, as in this case. Mark Bankston, an attorney for the parents, told Reuters by email that because Jones and his company face three claims each, he estimates the cap would be $4.5 million. Bankston said that he will argue the damages cap does not apply but declined to elaborate. Judge Maya Guerra Gamble must approve the final amount, a decision that is expected soon. Jones' lawyer, Federico Andino Reynal, said in court Friday that he will seek to reduce the $45.2 million punitive damages award because it does not comply with Texas law. He confirmed to Reuters on Monday that he plans to invoke the cap.

OSG Group Holdings Inc., a private equity-backed provider of printing, marketing and payment services to corporate clients, has filed for bankruptcy, planning to hand ownership to lenders on a quick time frame, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The Carlstadt, N.J.-based company entered into a restructuring agreement in late May with certain first- and second-lien lenders and with its majority equity owner, Aquiline Capital Partners LLC, locking up overwhelming support for a restructuring of roughly $860 million in debt obligations, according to OSG’s court papers. OSG provides communication services to corporate clients worldwide through a traditional print and mail business as well as digitally. It also provides such services as online payment portals, call centers and document scanning, and employs nearly 1,800 people. OSG, short for Output Services Group, said its primary legacy market of traditional print materials is shrinking because of transitions to digital, a trend that it says has accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic. The company also said that it has been hurt by inflation for such goods as paper and envelopes, increased costs that can’t always be passed on to clients. A 2021 malware attack also drove certain clients to competitors, OSG said in papers filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. OSG said that the financial restructuring will reduce its debt by more than $134 million, turning second-lien creditors into common equity holders.

Louisville Processing & Cold Storage Inc. and Riverport Holding LLC have filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with the U.S. District Court of Western District of Kentucky, Louisville Business First reported. Louisville Processing & Cold Storage Inc., led by President David Phillips, offers one-stop U.S. Department of Agriculture processing and cold storage services, according to its LinkedIn page. Phillips also is listed as the president of Riverport Holding, the company that owns the warehouse facility at 8001 Cane Run Road, which is valued at $3.2 million, according to the bankruptcy filing. The property is the limited liability company's only asset, and it has liabilities totaling $5.2 million. Riverport Holding's creditors include Commonwealth Roofing Corp. ($27,356, mechanics lien), George Michaels ($544,310), GOF Finance ($1.2 million, disputed), andRepublic Bank & Trust Co. ($3.4 million). It also owes $66,500 in 2021 property taxes, the document states. Both Louisville Processing & Cold Storage and Riverport Holding, along with a third limited liability company, Bull Lick Ranch, are the defendants in another lawsuit filed by Republic Bank & Trust Co. in Jefferson Circuit Court in 2020. Phillips, board chair Karen Nicholson and Michaels are listed as defendants. According to the 61-page complaint, Riverport got a loan from Republic for nearly $2.9 million in November 2018. Riverport signed a promissory note, which is an agreement to pay back the loan, and used a mortgage on the Cane Run Road property as collateral. Riverport originally purchased the property in 2012 for $2.6 million, according to Jefferson County Property Administrator's records. Republic claims it is owned the full loan amount, plus more than $150,000 in interest, late charges and other fees. The lawsuit is ongoing.