Gustavo Arnal, the chief financial officer of the beleaguered retailer, jumped to his death from a high-rise apartment in Manhattan on Friday afternoon, a law enforcement source previously told CNN. The NYPD said in a statement Sunday that Arnal, 52, was found unconscious and unresponsive outside his luxury 57-story skyscraper in the neighborhood of Tribeca.
The law enforcement source told CNN on Sunday that Arnal’s wife witnessed him jump. The source said while no suicide note was found, no criminality is suspected.
Amal was named as a defendant in a class action lawsuit accusing him, Ryan Cohen and other large shareholders of engaging in a “pump and dump” scheme to artificially inflate the price of the company’s stock. The lawsuit was filed last month in United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
The lawsuit claims that Arnal and others made misleading statements and omissions when communicating to investors regarding the company’s strategic plans and financial condition, and delayed disclosures about holding and selling their own shares. The suit also alleges the stakeholders shared fake revenue numbers and company plans for spinning off its “Buy Buy Baby” brand to fuel a stock buying frenzy.
On Tuesday, the company named Laura Crossen, its senior vice president of finance, as its interim CFO, and she will continue her role as its principal accounting officer.
–CNN’s Brynn Gingras, Liam Reilly, Ramishah Maruf and Samantha Beech contributed to this report.