Hufbauer called the $8.12 million payout to executives on the eve of bankruptcy ‘really suspicious.’
Securities and Exchange Commission records also show that 12 company insiders exercised or converted about 88,000 “phantom stocks” — a type of financial derivative used to incentivize employees — worth more than $70,000 that same Friday, Jan. 8, 2016.
On the following Monday, Jan. 11, Arch announced it had filed for bankruptcy protection.
Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said the bonus payments “could be very likely voided by a bankruptcy court.”
Bankruptcy courts scrutinize a company’s financial transactions and payments made during the 90 days before that firm filed for protection. Hufbauer called the $8.12 million on the eve of bankruptcy “really suspicious.”