Bed Bath & Beyond CFO’s death ruled a suicide
By Kanishka Singh
(Reuters) – The loss of life of Mattress Bathtub & Past Inc’s chief monetary officer, who fell from New York’s Tribeca skyscraper often known as the “Jenga” tower on Friday afternoon, has been dominated a suicide, the New York Metropolis Medical Examiner’s Workplace mentioned on Monday.
Gustavo Arnal, 52, died from “a number of” blunt power trauma, the workplace mentioned.
The suicide got here days after the struggling retailer introduced it was closing shops and shedding staff.
It additionally comes after Arnal in addition to the corporate have been sued on Aug. 23 over accusations of artificially inflating the agency’s inventory worth in a “pump and dump” scheme, with the lawsuit alleging Arnal offered off his shares at the next worth after the scheme.
The corporate mentioned it was “within the early levels of evaluating the criticism, however based mostly on present data the corporate believes the claims are with out advantage.”
Arnal joined Mattress Bathtub & Past in 2020. He beforehand labored as CFO for cosmetics model Avon in London and had a 20-year stint with Procter & Gamble Co, in line with his LinkedIn profile.
On Friday at 12:30 p.m. ET (1630 GMT), police responded to a 911 name and located a 52-year-old man lifeless close to the constructing who suffered accidents from a fall. Police recognized the person as Arnal. Mattress Bathtub & Past confirmed his loss of life in a press assertion on Sunday however gave no particulars.
The massive-box chain – as soon as thought-about a so-called “class killer” in house and tub items – has seen its fortunes falter after an try to promote extra of its own-brand items. Final week, Mattress Bathtub & Past mentioned it could shut 150 shops, reduce jobs and overhaul its merchandising technique in an try to show round its money-losing enterprise. It forecast a bigger-than-expected 26% hunch in same-store gross sales for the second quarter and mentioned it could retain its buybuy Child enterprise, which it had put up on the market.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Modifying by Christopher Cushing)
