A young boy with a crippling condition that is so painful it’s dubbed the ‘suicide disease’ has taken his first steps in almost a year after traveling across the pond for pioneering treatment in the USA.
Dillon Wilford was in so much pain from Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) that he even begged his mother Melanie to let him have his leg amputated.
But after their family spent almost $20,000 to travel from the UK for specialized treatment, the 11-year-old became pain free for the first time in months.
Doctors in Houston, Texas, treated Dillon with a VECTTOR machine, which delivers a form of electro-stimulation to nerves to reduce pain.
Ecstatic with the news, Melanie said it has reduced his pain level to a zero the majority of the time, compared to an eight or nine, which he would routinely rate it.
“Honestly it’s just unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable, and all of that was in the space of a couple of days.
“The first night in the States, he said it was the comfiest night’s sleep he has ever had. He laid on his side, which he couldn’t do (before); he had long pajamas on, which he couldn’t do; and he had the covers over him, which he couldn’t do—so, it’s just amazing.”
Dillon first started showing symptoms almost a year ago in November 2021, when he woke up with a limp and by the evening he was left debilitated by pain.
CHECK OUT: Yale Researchers Develop LYME Disease Vaccine Based on mRNA
He was diagnosed with CPRS in January after months of trying to find the cause of the pain which left medical professionals stumped. The condition was so agonizing that even the slightest touch to the affected area caused severe discomfort.
Dillon and his family originally wanted to raise £100,000 to send him to America for a 16-week treatment course which included light therapy and oxygen treatment. But, then they discovered the VECTTOR machine.
Cleared by the American FDA for the treatment of chronic, intractable pain and for the treatment of post surgical/trauma pain, the company’s website explains how the process works: “Based upon acupuncture, physiology, cellular physiology, and anatomy, VECTTOR is designed to stimulate the nerves to produce certain neuropeptides essential for optimal functioning of the body. These neuropeptides are vital for increasing circulation to the skin, bones nerves, muscles, and for reducing oxidative stress.”
RELATED: First Effective Treatment for Back Pain Changes How Brain and Back Communicate
After just three days of treatment, he was able to wear socks for the first time in a year and on day four of treatment, he was able to wear shoes for the first time.
POPULAR: Light Therapy is Harnessed to Target and Kill Cancer Cells in This World First
“Now he’s smiling, again,” said the joyous mom. “He’s not smiled like this for months and months.”
SWNS
The family was allowed to take the $5,400 machine home with him, which means he will be able to manage his pain back home in Manchester, England. The treatment, which takes 80 minutes, is given twice daily, but some patients are able to drop back to once a day after the first few weeks. The company says the therapy is easy to administer, and causes no pain or discomfort, and was studied in a small double-blind, randomized, placebo controlled clinical trial for children with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.
Dillon’s new reality supports these claims. He is now back at school after almost a year of absence. The single mother-of-four who is a student nurse reports that he is “loving it.”
LOOK: Doctor’s ‘Miraculous’ Remedy for Nonstop Coughs is Curing People With a YouTube Video
Now she wants to help raise awareness for other families who are going through this and let them know that there is another option.
“As a parent, you go through this horrendous and traumatic event that kind of takes your child’s life away from them and you will do anything to put that right.
She and other families are trying to get the National Health Service to offer the machines locally, but she fears the NHS is not open enough to many new treatments.
“This is a holistic way of keeping a child healthy—a way of getting Dillon off the massive amount of drugs that he was on… and far healthier and cheaper for the NHS, as well.”
SHARE The Breakthrough Treatment for Other Families on Social Media…
STOUGHTON, Mass. — Three Stoughton police officers who have since resigned from their roles with the department engaged in inappropriate relationships with a teenage girl who died by suicide years later, the town’s top cop said Friday.
Stoughton Police Chief Donna McNamarra on Friday announced the “deeply troubling” results of an 18-month internal affairs investigation and condemned the “serious misconduct” of former officers Matthew Farwell, his twin brother William Farwell, and Robert Devine.
McNamarra said all of the officers formed relationships with and exploited Sandra Birchmore, a 13-year-old who was enrolled in the Stoughton Police Explorers program in 2010.
Birchmore, 23, was found dead in her apartment in Canton on Feb. 4, 2021, and she was failed by, abused, and manipulated by the officers, according to McNamarra.
“Ms. Birchmore was a vulnerable person who had one constant in her life since childhood with an unwavering appreciation of police officers…People with oaths and duties to protect and serve.” McNamarra said. “The admiration led her to form relationships with men who were willing to take advantage of her.”
Up until her death, Birchmore had been speaking of her relationship with Matthew Farwell. The day after Birchmore’s death, McNamarra ordered Deputy Chief Brian Holmes to head up an investigation to determine if any misconduct was committed by members of her department.
“The subsequent inquiries into her life and death revealed a deeply disturbing pattern of behavior toward her,” McNamarra said.
The Farwell brothers, as well as Devine, violated many department policies, including being untruthful and failing in attention and devotion to duty, according to McNamarra.
Robert Devine (left), William Farwell (right) — Stoughton Police Department
Robert Devine (left), William Farwell (right) — Stoughton Police Department
Evidence uncovered during the investigation showed Matthew Farwell, who was 27 at the time, met Birchmore while she was in the explorers’ program and began a relationship with her that included a slew of digital messages and explicit exchanges over the course of several years, McNamarra said.
William Farwell is also accused of exchanging explicit messages and photographs with Birchmore while on duty, in addition to having a number of unbecoming physical encounters with her.
McNamarra said William Farwell also attempted to introduce Birchmore to other men on multiple occasions, including former Deputy Chief Devine who had been demoted to patrol officer for abusing power and an “individual who is a police officer in another jurisdiction.”
Devine also worked as a detail officer at an afterschool program years earlier and had inappropriate contact with another student, according to McNamarra. He then began overseeing the explorers program, which taught aspects of policing to youth participants.
The Farwell brothers were both youth participants in the program under Devine before becoming instructors years later, putting them on a course to meet Birchmore, McNamarra said. That program has since been disbanded.
Stoughton Police Explorers program badge
Investigators ultimately determined that Matthew Farwell ended his relationship with Birchmore on Feb. 1, 2021, after a “nasty, nasty argument.” She was found dead days later.
“All three men, the Farwell brothers, and Devine, violated their oaths of office and should never have the privilege of serving any community as a police officer,” McNamarra said. “Through a sustained and deliberate combination of lies, deceit, and treachery, they violated the policies of the Stoughton Police Department.”
The Farwell brothers and Devine have since resigned and Abington’s police chief confirms his department is investigating one of its officers involved in the misconduct with Birchmore after getting information from Stoughton.
McNamarra added that she plans to ask the state’s new Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission to decertify the Farwell brothers and Devine. She also noted that she is “heartbroken” and “incensed” by what has transpired.
The Norfolk District Attorney’s Office was informed of the findings, which were detailed in a 60-page report.
In a statement, the DA’s office said, “State Police detectives and the medical examiner found no evidence of foul play in the death of Ms. Birchmore…The investigation to date has not developed a prosecutable statutory rape case against any individual.”
All three officers have left the department and the Stoughton Chief is going through the process to decertify their police certification. We went to all of the officers homes and nobody was willing to comment on the internal affairs report. Boston 25 went to all of the officer’s homes and nobody was willing to comment on the internal affairs report.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
Amélie Champagne, 22, died by suicide this month after a battle with Lyme disease, her father said.
Lyme disease can infiltrate the joints, heart, and nervous system if left untreated.
Her father shared the news on LinkedIn: “She decided to free herself from the unbearable pain.”
Amélie Champagne, 22, struggled to find an explanation for her physical pain for years before she was finally diagnosed with Lyme disease in June 2021.
By then, the tick-borne bacteria had already taken a severe toll on her brain. On a Sunday this September — more than a year after her diagnosis — Champagne died by suicide.
Her father Alain, outgoing president of the Canadian drugstore chain Jean Coutu Group, recently shared the news in a poignant LinkedIn post.
“It is with the heaviest of hearts (and still in shock) that I share the tragic news that our sweetheart Amélie (22) took her own life this past Sunday,” he wrote last week.
She is survived by Alain, along with her mother Joanne, brother Mathieu, and boyfriend Nic, according to the post.
Lyme disease can cause a host of physical symptoms including joint pain, muscle aches, and chronic fatigue. Most cases are resolved with a few weeks of antibiotics, but the illness can progress if not treated early.
“Over time and despite the recent treatments, the disease had evolved way beyond the numerous physical symptoms and was now severely impacting her brain,” Alain Champagne wrote on LinkedIn.
‘Lyme essentially hijacked her’
The Champagne family bore witness to how challenging life with Lyme disease can be, Amélie’s dad wrote in the post.
Early symptoms can include fever, aches, chills, headache, and fatigue, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A telltale “bullseye” rash usually appears about a week after a bite from an infected tick.
The family went through “years of medical errance” in their home city of Quebec, before finally getting an accurate diagnosis for Amélie in the US. In that time, the disease progressed untreated.
The bacteria that causes Lyme disease can infiltrate the joints, heart, and nervous system if the disease is left to progress. Long-term complications include Lyme arthritis, which may require surgery; Lyme carditis, an infection of the heart that causes fainting and palpitations; and widespread nervous system dysfunction, including severe headaches, tingling pains, and facial paralysis.
“Over time, Lyme essentially highjacked her [sic],” Champagne’s father wrote. “She was so courageous throughout this ordeal … She decided to free herself from the unbearable pain.”
Although Amélie’s father did not specify her physical symptoms, he said she continued to show resilience and optimism despite her pain. She persevered through her studies, and volunteered at a center for handicapped kids and a nearby homeless shelter.
In the wake of Amélie’s death, her family and friends are leaning on each other for support, Champagne wrote in the post.
“We will love you forever, and cherish every memory of our wonderful time together. You made us all better people. It’s now up to us to rise up to the challenge.”
An explosive shareholder lawsuit that may have played a role in the shocking suicide of Bed Bath & Beyond’s former financial chief Gustavo Arnal has recently run into trouble of its own.
The $1.2 billion suit — which accuses the home-furnishings retailer, its late CFO, JPMorgan and a big investor of orchestrating a “pump and dump” stock scheme — was recently handed over to a new law firm, even as legal experts question its prospects in court, The Post has learned.
Arnal, 52, jumped to his death on Sept. 2 from the 18th floor of the “Jenga Building,” a chic luxury tower in lower Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood, while his wife was inside the apartment, which they reportedly were renting for $18,500-a-month. Arnal was a father to two daughters.
Meanwhile, the suit — which some media reports have cited as contributing to the stress Arnal was facing as the CFO of the financially embattled company — was filed Aug. 23 by an attorney based in Falls Church, Va. who is both the counsel and the plaintiff in the case — an unusual arrangement that typically presents a conflict of interest that wouldn’t pass muster with a judge, according to legal experts.
Gustavo Arnal joined the retailer in 2020.
The attorney, Pengcheng Si, who specializes in immigration law, declined to comment on “ongoing litigation” in an email to The Post. He also said he realizes “this is emotion[al] hell for Gustavo Arnal’s family … I would like to extend my sympathy and condolence[s] for Mr. Arnal[‘s] family’s loss.”
Filed in federal court in Washington, DC, the complaint is seeking class-action status and claims that Si and his wife lost $106,480 because of a scheme cooked up by Arnal and Bed Bath & Beyond’s former largest investor, Chewy.com’s billionaire founder Ryan Cohen. The latter sold his shares between Aug. 16 and 17 before the stock crashed, bagging $68 million.
On those same two days, Arnal sold more than 55,000 shares worth $1.4 million, according to securities filings — transactions that the filings claimed had been part of a pre-arranged plan set up in April.
The Jenga building at 56 Leonard St. where Arnal lived.Robert Miller
On Sept. 6, however, the plaintiff Si hired law firm Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, which specializes in class-action litigation, to take over the case, according to a public notice.
“Once [Si] learned how the class-action mechanisms work, he decided to withdraw as counsel,” partner Steven Toll told The Post in an interview. “He wasn’t aware of the challenges of being both a plaintiff and counsel.”
The complaint alleges that Arnal had “heavy communications” with JP Morgan and Cohen about “creating a buying frenzy of [the company’s’] stock,” and that JPMorgan helped Arnal and Cohen “launder the proceeds of their criminal conduct.”
The suit does not, however, lay out how Si, an individual investor, got the information, notes Richard Schoenstein, a securities attorney for Tarter Krinsky & Drogin who isn’t affiliated with the case.
“The complaint doesn’t reveal the source of the information regarding the allegations which makes it vulnerable to being dismissed,” Schoenstein told The Post.
Ryan Cohen sold his shares in Bed Bath & Beyond between Aug. 16 and 17, bagging $68 million.Twitter/Ryan Cohen
Indeed, Toll said, “I don’t have any information on how he would have knowledge of conversations between Cohen and Arnal,” adding that Si might have “read it somewhere or heard about it from another person or he believes it happened.”
Elsewhere, the suit erroneously named “Arnal Gustavo” as a defendant throughout rather than “Gustavo Arnal.” In another instance, the suit refers to the plaintiff, Si, as a female — a mistake that will be corrected, according to his lawyer.
Bed Bath & Beyond said in an email to The Post that it “is in the early stages of evaluating the complaint, but based on current knowledge the company believes the claims are without merit.”Reps for Cohen’s investment firm RC Ventures declined to comment as did reps for JPMorgan.
Gustavo Arnal jumped to his death from the 18th floor of his luxury apartment building in Tribeca.Robert Miller
According to Si’s bio on his law firm’s web site – DWS Law Group – he is also referred to as Simon P. Si. A native of China, Si’s bio says in addition to immigration law he “provides strategic advice on business formation, real estate, investment and international trade.”
Toll’s firm has meanwhile begun soliciting other plaintiffs to join the case. Si’s is the “first and ONLY” class action lawsuit “thus far” the law firm said in a public notice required by the SEC.
But there are at least several other big law firms fishing for investors to be part of future class action lawsuits against Bed Bath & Beyond over similar allegations.
It’s not clear whether the complaints, including Si’s, will replace Arnal as a defendant in the complaint with his estate, Toll said.
“The question is whether it’s a good strategic move,” Toll said, adding “you wouldn’t do that unless you thought there was a lot of money in the estate. If [the estate] is worth $10 or $50 million a lawyer would need to weigh that.”
It was no laughing matter to see Kadarius Toney back on the practice field.
Toney wore a facemask visor with a print of the Haha tattoo associated with Jared Leto’s Joker character in the “Suicide Squad” during Giants practice Friday. The second-year wide receiver also is a rapper who goes by the artist name “Yung Joka.”
Toney, who mostly treats Yung Joka as a separate persona from his football identity as a first-round draft pick, released his latest album “Warrior 3” in the offseason, and the Giants played a track during a training camp practice. PristineAuction.com once sold an authenticated Toney-autographed Joker figurine with his tagline – “Why so serious?” – for $128.99, records show.
Kadarius Toney’s sun visor has the words, “Ha Ha,” written on it during practice at the Giants training facility in East Rutherford.Charles Wenzelberg/New York PostKadarius Toney answers questions from reporters.Noah K. Murray/New York Post
It’s not the first time that Toney has created a buzz with an unusual visor. He paired a Louis Vuitton-logoed visor with his Joker-themed mouth guard during the first week of training camp, and a photo circulated by the Giants official Twitter account received nearly 3,000 likes.
While specialized visors are fun in practice, NFL rules still strictly govern usage in games, so Toney must put the visor back on the shelf. For years only clear visors were allowed, though now, through a partnership with Oakley, players are allowed to wear visors with a pinkish-blue hue.
Toney was a limited practice participant Friday and is questionable to play Sunday after he showed up on the injury report (hamstring). He originally tweaked his hamstring last month, returned to practice after preseason games were over and played seven snaps in Week 1, but then the hamstring “tightened up” and forced Toney out of certain team periods of Thursday’s practice, according to Giants head coach Brian Daboll.
CHICAGO/LONDON, Sept 8 (Reuters) – Scott Taylor never got to move on from COVID-19.
The 56-year-old, who caught the disease in spring 2020, still had not recovered about 18 months later when he killed himself at his home near Dallas, having lost his health, memory and money.
“No one cares. No one wants to take the time to listen,” Taylor wrote in a final text to a friend, speaking of the plight of millions of sufferers of long COVID, a disabling condition that can last for months and years after the initial infection.
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
“I can hardly do laundry without complete exhaustion, pain, fatigue, pain all up and down my spine. World spinning dizzily, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea. It seems I say stuff and have no idea of what I’m saying,” Taylor added.
Long COVID is a complex medical condition that can be hard to diagnose as it has a range of more than 200 symptoms – some of which can resemble other illnesses – from exhaustion and cognitive impairment to pain, fever and heart palpitations, according to the World Health Organization.
There is no authoritative data on the frequency of suicides among sufferers. Several scientists from organizations including the U.S. National Institutes of Health and Britain’s data-collection agency are beginning to study a potential link following evidence of increased cases of depression and suicidal thoughts among people with long COVID, as well as a growing number of known deaths.
“I’m sure long COVID is associated with suicidal thoughts, with suicide attempts, with suicide plans and the risk of suicide death. We just don’t have epidemiological data,” said Leo Sher, a psychiatrist at Mount Sinai Health System in New York who studies mood disorders and suicidal behavior.
Among key questions now being examined by researchers: does the risk of suicide potentially increase among patients because the virus is changing brain biology? Or does the loss of their ability to function as they once did push people to the brink, as can happen with other long-term health conditions?
Sher said pain disorders in general were a very strong of predictor of suicide, as was inflammation in the brain, which several studies have linked with long COVID.
“We should take this seriously,” he added.
An analysis for Reuters conducted by Seattle-based health data firm Truveta showed that patients with long COVID were nearly twice as likely to receive a first-time antidepressant prescription within 90 days of their initial COVID diagnosis compared with people diagnosed with COVID alone.
The analysis was based on data from 20 major U.S. hospital systems, including more than 1.3 million adults with a COVID diagnosis and 19,000 with a long COVID diagnosis between May 2020 and July 2022.
‘WE DON’T KNOW THE EXTENT’
The potential long-term effects of COVID-19 are poorly understood, with governments and scientists only now starting to systematically study the area as they emerge from a pandemic that itself blindsided much of the world.
While many long COVID patients recover over time, around 15% still experience symptoms after 12 months, according to the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). There’s no proven treatment and debilitating symptoms can leave sufferers unable to work.
The implications of long COVID potentially being linked with increased risk of mental illness and suicide are grave; in America alone, the condition has affected up to 23 million people, the U.S. Government Accountability Office estimated in March.
Long COVID has also pushed roughly 4.5 million out of work, equal to about 2.4% of the U.S. workforce, employment expert Katie Bach of the Brookings Institution told Congress in July.
Worldwide, nearly 150 million people are estimated to have developed long COVID during the first two years of the pandemic, according to the IHME.
In many developing countries, a lack of surveillance of long COVID makes the picture even murkier, said Murad Khan, a psychiatry professor at Aga Khan University in Karachi, Pakistan, who is part of an international group of experts researching the suicide risk linked to COVID-19.
“We have a huge problem, but we don’t know the extent of the problem,” he said.
HITTING BREAKING POINT
Time is a scarce commodity for a growing number of long COVID sufferers who say they are running out of hope and money, according to Reuters interviews with several dozen patients, family members and disease experts.
Lauren Nichols, who has long COVID, takes a break from work to read her blood oxygen levels and heart rate from a machine on her finger in her home in Andover, Massachusetts, U.S., August 3, 2022. REUTERS/Lauren Owens Lambert
For Taylor, who lost his job selling genomic tests to physicians in a round of layoffs in the summer of 2020, the breaking point came when his insurance coverage through his former employer was due to expire and his application for social security benefits was denied, his family said.
“It was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” his older brother Mark Taylor said.
Heidi Ferrer, a 50-year-old TV screenwriter originally from Kansas, killed herself in May 2021 to escape the tremors and excruciating pain that left her unable to walk or sleep after contracting COVID more than a year earlier, her husband Nick Guthe said.
Guthe, a filmmaker who has become an advocate for long COVID sufferers since his wife’s death, said that until this past winter, he had not heard of other suicides within the network of long COVID patients.
“They’re now coming on a weekly basis,” he added.
Survivor Corps, an advocacy group for long COVID patients, said it polled their membership in May and found that 44% of nearly 200 respondents said they had considered suicide.
Lauren Nichols, a board member at the long COVID support group Body Politic, said that through contact with family members on social media she was aware of more than 50 people with long COVID who had killed themselves, though Reuters was unable to independently confirm the cases.
Nichols, 34, a logistics expert for the U.S. Department of Transportation in Boston, says she herself has considered suicide several times because of long COVID, which she has suffered for more than two years.
Exit International advises English-speakers on how to seek help with assisted dying in Switzerland, where euthanasia is legal with certain checks. Fiona Stewart, a director, said the organization, which does not track outcomes after providing advice, had received several dozen inquiries from long COVID patients during the pandemic and was now getting about one a week.
LONG COVID AND OMICRON
The U.S. National Institutes of Health is tracking mental health impacts as part of its $470 million RECOVER study into long COVID. Early results on anxiety and depression rates are expected by early September, but information on suicide will take longer, said Dr. Stuart Katz, a lead researcher.
“What we do know is that persons with chronic illnesses are susceptible to suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts and suicide completion,” said Richard Gallagher, an associate professor of child psychiatry at NYU Langone Health, who is part of RECOVER.
On the question of whether the virus changes the brain, Gallagher said there was some evidence that COVID can cause brain inflammation – which has been linked to suicide and depression – even among people who had relatively mild disease.
“There may be direct, in some ways, toxic effects of the virus, and part of it will be inflammation,” he said.
Long COVID on average reduces overall health by 21% – similar to total deafness or a traumatic brain injury, the University of Washington’s IHME found.
Although some experts expected Omicron to be less likely to cause long COVID, official UK data released this month found that 34% of the 2 million long COVID sufferers in the country developed their symptoms after an Omicron infection.
A British government advisory group is studying the suicide risk for long COVID patients compared with the wider population while the state Office for National Statistics (ONS) is investigating whether it can assess upfront a long COVID patient’s risk of suicide as it does for people with other diseases, such as cancer.
“Health conditions that are disabling long-term may add to suicide risk, hence the concern over long COVID,” said Louis Appleby, a psychiatry professor at the University of Manchester and a UK government adviser.
Indeed, research in Britain and Spain found a six-fold increased risk of suicide among patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), another post-viral illness with similar symptoms to long COVID, when compared with the general population.
Britain’s network of long COVID treatment centers is also drastically oversubscribed, adding to a sense of hopelessness for some; in June, the latest month on record, only a third of patients received an appointment within six weeks of being referred by their local doctor, and another third had to wait for more than 15 weeks.
Ruth Oshikanlu, a former midwife and health visitor in London turned pregnancy coach, said her long COVID health problems combined to push her close to the edge. When her business temporarily folded due to debt issues after she struggled to work, she felt her life was over.
“I was crying to the accountant, and the guy kept me on hold – I think he didn’t want to be the last person to talk to me,” the 48-year-old recalled.
“What COVID gives you is a lot of time to think,” she said. “I didn’t think of ending it, thankfully, because of my son. But I do know so many people who have had those suicidal thoughts.”
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago and Jennifer Rigby in London; Editing by Michele Gershberg and Pravin Char
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Bed Bath & Beyond CFO Gustavo Arnal was stressed out by working 18-hour days and was considering taking a leave in the weeks before he killed himself, a new report said.
The late executive was also upset about the fallout his mid-August $1.4 million stock sale generated because he had preplanned the sale and was still holding more than $5 million in company shares, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
Arnal was 52 when he plunged to his death from his 18th story, $18,500 a month rental in Tribeca on Sept. 2 while his wife was home. The medical examiner ruled his death a suicide.
The week before the Venezuelan immigrant and father of two took his own life, he had been named in a $1.2 billion “pump-and-dump” lawsuit filed against BBB and GameStop chairman Ryan Cohen and accused of artificially raising the price of the stock to cash in.
Cohen raised $68.1 million in profits by unloading his massive stake on Aug. 16, the same day Arnal’s $20 limit order sale took place, according to the article. The BBB stock price lost half its value over the next three days.
Authorities at the scene after Gustavo Arnal jumped from the building.Robert Miller
The company told The Journal it considered the lawsuit to be meritless, and an internal investigation found no evidence of fraud or collusion on Arnal’s part while revealing the late financial executive did not have any one-on-one communication with Cohen, a billionaire investor activist, according to the report.
In the months before the stock sale and lawsuit, officials and directors at the home goods chain were reportedly growing concerned about the demands Arnal was facing in the midst of the company’s financial crisis, which was accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bed Bath & Beyond, Inc. was valued at $17 billion ten years ago but was worth less than $1 billion when Arnal took the job in May of 2020.
Bed Bath & Beyond’s value began to drastically fall in 2019 as online shopping reigned king.Bloomberg via Getty Images
Cohen revealed in March he had a 10% stake in the company — which was swept up in the meme-stock craze — and called on it to restructure. A cascade of senior executives left BBB in the following months, but Arnal was one of the few that stayed, according to the report.
On Aug. 31, two days before his suicide, Arnal and other officials had announced the company secured new financing and would be closing a fifth of its 800 stores while reducing costs by 20 percent.
At the time he was clocking 18-hour days on the restructuring plan while also being bombarded with emails from individual investors and lawsuit plaintiffs, friends and coworkers told the paper.
BBB leaders had considered replacing Arnal but didn’t want to make a change while he was in the midst of raising money, according to the article. He was scheduled to talk with other executives about possibly “taking a break” from work after the Labor Day holiday, the report said.
The medical examiner ruled Arnal’s death a suicide.Robert Miller
“I could see the stress on him,” former chief executive of Avon Products Jan Zijderveld told the paper after having a dinner with Arnal and his wife that stretched until 1 a.m. six weeks ago in Manhattan.
Arnal reportedly told Zijderveld he was under pressure at work, but seemed upbeat and animated as he burned the midnight oil.
“He’s the sort of guy who carries the world on his shoulders,” Zijderveld said.
“It was 24/7, ‘Let’s fix this thing,’” he reportedly said. “He was full of intensity. This is not a half-measure kind of guy.”
If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts or are experiencing a mental health crisis and live in New York City, you can call 1-888-NYC-WELL for free and confidential crisis counseling. If you live outside the five boroughs, you can dial the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention hotline at 988 or go to SuicidePreventionLifeline.org.
Queen Key called out her children’s father for his emotional post regarding his late girlfriend’s death.
600Breezy is grieving the death of his late girlfriend, Raven Jackson, who allegedly took her own life on Tuesday (September 7). The rapper posted Jackson’s last message to him, which some would deem to be her suicide note, just before she reportedly committed suicide. In his emotional post, the “New Opps” rapper shared, “You just gone leave me forever? You kno how many people love you raven ? I would’ve never left if this was the outcome . Im f****d up for the rest of my life baby mentally you just finished me.”
While fans rushed to share their condolences with the rapper, his children’s mother Queen Key, blasted the rapper on social media, claiming that he’s “clout chasing” following Raven’s death. “First of all, breezy is f***** goofy,” she posted. “RIP to raven, but this silverback looking a** n***** tryna clout up her death is overly f**** weird.” Back in 2019, Key confirmed that 600Breezy was the father of her triplets after he denied the claims for months. In her recent post, she continued to call out the rapper on his parenting skills, adding, “Boy yo a** is a deadbeat wtf u weird as hell & you wished death on me when I was pregnant.”
After fans reacted to Key’s comments about Breezy and Raven, she responded to the backlash writing, “How the f*** ima feel bad for a n*** who don’t take care of his kids cause his feelings hurt? Boy f*** you! Her death ain’t about you.” Queen Key concluded her rant adding, “I’m sad that that happened to her, but I can not sit back & let this big goofy trick yall.” 600 Breezy has yet to respond to Queen Key’s posts.
Well wishes to all Raven Jackson’s family and friends.
Arnal joined Bed Bath & Beyond in May 2020 after previously working at Avon, Walgreens Boots Alliance, and Procter & Gamble.
“At Bed Bath & Beyond Inc., Mr. Arnal was instrumental in guiding the organization throughout the coronavirus pandemic, transforming the Company’s financial foundation and building a strong and talented team,” the company’s release said. “He was also an esteemed colleague in the financial community.”
Bed Bath & Beyond has been facing challenges. On Aug. 31, the company announced the closure of 150 of its stores and revealed it was reducing its workforce by 20 percent.
(E! and NBC are both part of the NBCUniversal family).
Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement that “an unknown militant set off an explosive device. As a result of the attack, two employees of the diplomatic mission were killed.”
The foreign ministry added that “there are also victims among Afghan citizens” without giving further details.
“One of the employees of the embassy was an Afghan guard and we still do not know the nationality of the second person,” an Afghan security source told CNN. Another 10 people were injured in the blast. Russia’s Investigative Committee said that two staff killed were the embassy’s second secretary and a security guard.
Kabul’s police spokesman said that explosives went off in a crowd of people after an attacker was identified and shot by Afghan security forces near the Russian embassy.
“Today around 11 a.m. local time a suicide bomber, who was planning to blow up his explosives among the crowd of people, was identified and shot by the security forces near the Russian embassy in Police District 7, Kabul. As a result, his explosives went off,” police spokesman Khalid Zadran said on Twitter.
An ISIS affiliate in Afghanistan claimed credit for the attack in a statement on Monday.
CNN cannot independently verify the authenticity of this claim.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said additional Taliban forces had been brought in to secure the embassy in the Afghan capital.
“Two of our comrades have died. A set of measures were immediately taken to strengthen the protection of the outer perimeter,” Lavrov said during a meeting with Tajikistan’s foreign minister in Moscow. The “intelligence and counterintelligence services of Afghanistan are involved,” he added.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the attack as “unacceptable.”
“This was a terrorist attack, they are absolutely unacceptable. We strongly condemn such terrorist acts. Of course, now the main thing is to get information about what happened to our diplomats. As far as I understand, the information will be updated,” Peskov told a briefing Monday.
CNN’s Fred Pleitgen, Darya Tarasova and Hamdi Alkhshali contributed reporting.
