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The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego, under a siege of lawsuits from 438 people who say they were sexually abused by its clergy in past decades, said it plans to file for bankruptcy protection in November, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. Such a move, spelled out in court papers filed this week and in a hearing in San Diego Superior Court yesterday, would halt all lawsuits against the diocese until the bankruptcy is complete and a universal settlement of all the claims is reached through the bankruptcy process. The diocese, which includes 96 parishes and serves some 1.3 million Roman Catholics in San Diego and Imperial counties, had said in February it was pondering filing for bankruptcy and would likely make a decision by late spring. It would mark the diocese’s second time filing for bankruptcy. It did so in 2007, eventually settling 148 claims of sexual abuse for $198 million.

BlockFi Inc. customers who tried to reclaim nearly $300 million in crypto after the company froze transfers last year don’t have a right to the digital assets, a judge ruled, handing potential losses to investors who held interest-bearing accounts, Bloomberg News reported. Bankruptcy Judge Michael Kaplan sided with the company and dismissed the objections of a group of customers, who argued that they retained rights to the coins even before they were moved into a secure digital wallet. Those who kept their assets in interest-bearing accounts gave up certain ownership rights, while those in custodial accounts did not. To protect themselves around the time of the freeze, users rushed to move coins into the safer digital wallets. BlockFi, which is based in Jersey City, filed for bankruptcy in November with plans to either sell or reorganize its business to repay creditors. The ruling is similar to those made in other crypto-company bankruptcies. A federal judge in New York ruled that Celsius Network owns the coins that users placed in interest-bearing accounts. Judge Kaplan found that BlockFi stopped all transfers on Nov. 10 at 8:15 p.m. Some customers tried to move their assets to safer custodial wallets afterward and got messages on the company’s app saying their transfers were complete — but those notices were wrong, Judge Kaplan ruled during a short court hearing yesterday.

Deposit withdrawals from U.S. banks following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank were concentrated in around 30 "super-regional" institutions in the $50 billion to $250 billion range, similar to SVB, New York Fed researchers concluded in a newly released study, Reuters reported. Deposits among thousands of "community and smaller regional banks ... were relatively stable by comparison" during March, the researchers found, with the largest, most systemically important firms receiving the deposits that left the super-regional group. Though there were concerns about a broader run on bank deposits after the failure of SVB on March 10 and Signature Bank on March 12, the NY Fed study points to what Fed officials themselves seemed to conclude early on: that the problems were focused in a discrete set of institutions. There were fears that banking sector weaknesses might touch off a wave of mergers that would wipe out smaller institutions - to the potential detriment, for example, of small business lending.

Revlon Group Holdings emerged from bankruptcy last week with $2.7 billion less debt to worry about, but a balance-sheet makeover alone won’t help the company reclaim its place in an industry it shaped nearly a century ago, according to a Bloomberg News commentary. Big rivals such as L’Oreal SA and Estée Lauder have deeper pockets, while newer brands including Rare Beauty and e.l.f. Cosmetics have captured the imagination of young consumers. What Revlon needs is a niche it can own that plays to its strong connections among Gen X and millennials, two cohorts with an abundance of spending power that grew up with the brand, according to the commentary. It helps that consumers in the U.S. are more willing to spend on beauty these days. Consultancy McKinsey & Co. estimates that annual sales in the sector over the next few years will increase at nearly double the 4% pace seen pre-pandemic. The market for anti-aging products, from creams and lotions to ampoules and serums, reached $5.3 billion last year, growing 24% since 2017, according to market research provider Euromonitor International, which forecasts sales to grow 27% to $6.8 billion by 2027.

A Garner company linked to the founder of a defunct charter school in Raleigh, N.C., has filed for bankruptcy protection, the Triangle Business Journal reported. The company, called S.O.D Holdings, filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy and lists its manager as Donnie McQueen, the entrepreneur behind Torchlight Academy. McQueen registered S.O.D to do business in North Carolina in 2019. The holding company holds the deed for the property that housed Torchlight. The 1.62-acre property – at 3211 Bramer Drive off Atlantic Avenue in northeast Raleigh – is valued at nearly $4 million, according to Wake County property records, and includes the more than 20,000-square-foot building that housed the school. Both S.O.D’s assets and liabilities range between $1 million and $10 million, according to the bankruptcy filing, dated May 5. Creditors include the North Carolina Department of Revenue and North State Bank.

In October 2020, Akorn Operating Company LLC announced its emergence from chapter 11 bankruptcy as the beginning of “an exciting new chapter.” Less than three years later, the generic U.S. drugmaker ran out of money and laid everyone off. Akorn is back in bankruptcy court — this time to be sold for parts. It’s one of 12 firms this year to seek bankruptcy protection for a second or even third time after initial attempts at court-supervised rehabilitation failed, according to a Bloomberg News analysis. So-called chapter 22 filings — industry slang for repeat bankruptcies — are piling up at the fastest rate since the Great Recession, according to BankruptcyData. "Judges aren’t thrilled to see a debtor come back; nobody wants it to happen,” said Lindsey Simon, a law professor at the University of Georgia who studies bankruptcies. “It means bankruptcy failed.” David’s Bridal LLC, the biggest wedding retailer in the U.S., and Catalina Marketing, maker of well-known coupons, along with discount retailer Tuesday Morning, telecommunications company Avaya and data firm Inap, all fell back into bankruptcy this year. Such relapses follow common threads. Sometimes a company did not get enough debt off its balance sheet the first time. Or it didn’t shed unprofitable parts of the business when it had the chance, dooming its prospects when interest rates rose, or inflation forced costs higher.

Vyera Pharmaceuticals, the company that Martin Shkreli founded and used to conduct a securities fraud that landed him in prison, filed for bankruptcy yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported. Vyera, its Swiss parent company Phoenixus and several affiliates filed for protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., after the reputational harm from Shkreli’s fraud hampered them from opening bank accounts, commercializing products or raising capital, court papers say. Shkreli founded the companies in 2014, originally under the name Turing Pharmaceuticals, focusing his efforts on acquiring drugs that were the only viable option for patients afflicted with rare life-threatening diseases, and then raising prices. He was arrested in 2015 and convicted of federal securities fraud in 2017, and began serving a federal prison sentence that year. But he continued with his business strategy from prison, conducting his operations by giving orders to directors and officers he appointed using a contraband cellphone. In 2020, the Federal Trade Commission and a number of state attorneys general sued Shkreli, Vyera and Phoenixus for alleged antitrust violations. Following the FTC complaint, the business appointed a new board and management team, which took steps to eliminate Shkreli’s influence, according to court papers filed Wednesday by their chief restructuring officer, Lawrence Perkins.

Monitronics International Inc. announced on Tuesday that it has entered into a restructuring support agreement that would reduce the home security and alarm monitoring company’s debt by about $500 million as part of a partially pre-packaged reorganization through a chapter 11 structure, the Dallas Business Journal reported. The agreement is with Monitronics’ lenders, who hold approximately 78% of the Farmers Branch company’s debt, and the holders of a majority of its equity. Funds managed by Monarch Alternative Capital and Invesco Senior Secured Management Inc. are the largest lenders and will become the new principal equity owners. In addition to creating an expedited restructuring deal to lower Monitronics’ debt, the arrangement is expected to provide more financial flexibility and support for the firm to execute its business plan. On or around May 15, Monitronics, the firm behind Brinks Home Security, plans to implement the restructuring through the partially pre-packaged chapter 11 protocol in the Southern District of Texas. Monitronics, which has already obtained the necessary support from stakeholders, plans to emerge from chapter 11 proceedings within about 46 days of filing should the bankruptcy court approve its plan. Monitronics has already received commitments for about $387 million in new financing from existing lenders during the chapter 11 cases. That includes funds for the chapter 11 process, including payments of employee wages and benefits, suppliers, partners and vendors; and funds to refinance Monitronics’ existing superiority revolving credit facility and term loan.

A judge voided the Phoenix Suns’ recently announced deal to change its local television broadcaster, ruling that the agreement violated the rights of its current broadcast partner: the bankrupt owner of the Bally Sports brand of local sports channels, Bloomberg News reported. Judge Christopher Lopez ruled that the owner of the Suns and Women’s Basketball Association’s Mercury weren’t permitted to enter into new agreements with television channel owner Gray Television Inc., including a separate webstreaming deal with Kiswe Mobile Inc., while Bally Sports owner Diamond Sports Group LLC tries to shed debt in chapter 11 and work out a potential path forward with the NBA, Major League Baseball and National Hockey Association. The Suns’ new deals with Gray and Kiswe violated the bankruptcy injunction protecting Diamond Sports that prevents leagues and sports teams from interfering with its existing broadcast rights during its chapter 11 case, Judge Lopez said. Before announcing the deal on April 28, the Suns were warned that the agreement would violate the injunction, known in bankruptcy court as the automatic stay, and deprived Diamond Sports of valuable rights, Diamond Sports’s lawyer Brian Hermann said in a hearing Wednesday.

Bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex Inc. received court permission yesterday to borrow $7 million in bitcoin to fund the start of its chapter 11 case, Reuters reported. Seattle-based Bittrex filed for bankruptcy Monday, saying it intended to return customer funds and wind down its U.S. operations. The company's international affiliates will continue to operate crypto exchanges for customers outside of the U.S., but Bittrex said that the U.S. regulatory environment had become untenable after the SEC sued the company for allegedly running an unregistered securities exchange. Before filing for bankruptcy, Bittrex stopped accepting new deposits from U.S. customers and told its existing users to withdraw their crypto from the platform. Bittrex's U.S. operations made up a minority of its overall users. Affiliated exchanges based in Liechtenstein and Bermuda accounted for about 77% of the company's 5.4 million users as of March 27, according to court filings. Bittrex believes that it has enough cryptocurrency to fully repay all remaining customers, and the bankruptcy loan will ensure a smooth wind-down that protects customer assets, attorney Susheel Kirpalani told U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Brendan Shannon at a court hearing yesterday in Wilmington, Del.