The New York City medical examiner’s office said CFO Gustavo Arnal died from multiple blunt trauma and that he had taken his own life.
Prior to Arnal’s death, a group of shareholders that claimed a loss of around $1.2 billion had sued him and majority shareholder Ryan Cohen, a billionaire investor and chairman of GameStop, over accusations of artificially inflating the firm’s stock price in a “pump and dump” stock fraud scheme.
The class-action suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Aug. 23—11 days prior to Arnal’s death—claims that Cohen approached Arnal about his plan to control shares of Bed Bath & Beyond, in a scheme from which they could both profit. Arnal allegedly sold his shares at a higher price after the scheme.
The filing alleged Cohen offered to purchase a large stake in the company, including call options on more than 1.6 million BBBY shares with a strike price between $60 and $80, while in exchange, Arnal would ensure that insiders wouldn’t flood the market with the stock.
As part of the plan, Arnal “agreed to regulate all insider sales by BBBY’s officers and directors to ensure that the market would not be inundated with a large number of BBBY shares at a given time,” the lawsuit reads. It also said Arnal issued “materially misleading” statements to investors regarding the company’s strategic plans, financial condition, and so on.
The two were listed as defendants. One plaintiff, Pengcheng Si of Falls Church, Virginia, said she and her spouse bought 8,020 shares of the company between March 25 and Aug. 18 “and have suffered realized and market losses of approximately $106,480.”
The company’s shares have been highly volatile in recent months, being viewed as a “meme” stock, which trade more on social media sentiment than economic fundamentals.
The company’s stock closed at $8.63 on Sept. 2.
A BBBY spokesman declined to comment on the lawsuit. The company said in a statement to The Epoch Times on Monday, “We will not comment on litigation and ask that you please respect Mr. Arnal’s family and their privacy at this time.”
Sorrow
Arnal, 52, fell to death from his 18th-floor apartment in the 56 Leonard Street building, known as the “Jenga Tower,” in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood, the New York City Police Department confirmed to news outlets.“Our focus is on supporting his family and his team, and our thoughts are with them during this sad and difficult time. Please join us in respecting the family’s privacy,” said Harriet Edelman, chair of BBBY’s board of directors.
It forecast a bigger-than-expected 26 percent slump in second-quarter same-store sales, and said it would retain its Buy Buy Baby business, which it had put up for sale.