Reported by: Samantha Delouya

Bed Bath & Beyond CFO Gustav Arnal was named in an insider trading lawsuit less than two weeks before he was found dead in an apparent suicide on Friday. The proposed class action lawsuit, filed on behalf of an individual investor Pengcheng Si, names Bed Bath & Beyond, Arnal, Ryan Cohen, and JPMorgan Securities as defendants.

The lawsuit alleges that Arnal, along with activist investor and GameStop Chairman Ryan Cohen, conspired to “artificially inflate” the price of Bed Bath & Beyond’s stock and take advantage of the higher price by “illegally engaging in insider trading” from late March to mid-August.

It’s estimated that more than 10,000 class action lawsuits are filed each year, according to a 2020 report from the law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP. Legal experts sometimes criticize these types of lawsuits for placing pressure on defendants to settle even weak claims, the report says. 

Though the lawsuit claims that Arnal conspired with Cohen to “pump and dump” Bed Bath & Beyond’s stock in mid-August, The Wall Street Journal reports that Arnal’s stock was automatically sold under a prearranged plan set up in April with securities regulators.

Read full report: https://www.businessinsider.com/bed-bath-and-beyond-cfo-gustavo-arnal-insider-trading-lawsuit-2022-9?amp