The United States, United Kingdom, and Canada slapped sanctions Thursday on Lebanon's embattled former central bank governor and a handful of close relatives and associates over allegations of corruption, the U.S. Treasury Department said, the Associated Press reported. Riad Salameh, 73, ended his 30-year tenure on July 31 under a cloud of investigation and blame for his country's historic economic crisis. France, Germany, and Luxembourg are investigating Salameh and close associates over alleged financial crimes, including illicit enrichment and the laundering of $330 million.
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National Bank of Canada said on Tuesday it has agreed to buy collapsed U.S. regional lender Silicon Valley Bank's Canadian commercial loan portfolio, as the smallest of Canada's top six lenders looks to expand its footprint in the tech sector and diversify its loan book, Reuters reported. National Bank said in a statement it will acquire the C$1 billion ($752 million) loan portfolio made up of technology, life science and global fund banking sectors. Around C$325 million of that is outstanding.
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Lighthouse Immersive Inc., the company behind an interactive Vincent van Gogh exhibition displayed across the U.S., has filed for bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported. The Toronto-based company filed for chapter 15 bankruptcy in Delaware yesterday alongside affiliates, a move that protects its U.S. assets while insolvency proceedings play out in its home country. While the company is best known for its van Gogh exhibit, it has also launched displays that feature Disney animation, as well as works of Frida Kahlo and Claude Monet.
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BRON, the Canadian holding company for animation studio Bron Digital, live-action production company Bron Studios, and feature film studio Bron Creative has filed for bankruptcy in the U.S. and creditor’s protection in Canada, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Citing the pandemic as well as the current WGA/SAG-AFTRA strikes, the company “had no choice but to take this step in light of its financial circumstances,” said CEO Aaron Gilbert in a letter to shareholders.
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Economists now see a soft landing for the Canadian economy, with no recession this year despite interest rates at a 22-year high, Bloomberg News reported. The economy will stall in the second half of 2023 but it won’t contract, according to a monthly Bloomberg survey of 27 economists. The median forecast sees the Bank of Canada holding its overnight rate at 5% well into next year — with no rate cuts until April. The results support the Bank of Canada’s view that economic growth is moderating, while core inflation remains elevated.
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Mexico has been hit with three sets of trade arbitration proceedings in the past few days, according to the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), Reuters reported. First Majestic Silver and Silver Bull Resources, both Canadian companies, as well as U.S. food firm Arbor Confections have filed cases against Mexico, ICSID said in brief statements issued between Thursday and Friday. The proceedings all invoked the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) which replaced NAFTA.
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Bron, the finance and production company that backed films including Joker, Licorice Pizza, Bombshell and Judas and the Black Messiah, has filed for bankruptcy, its co-founder Aaron J. Gilbert said Wednesday, Deadline reported. In a letter to “friends, partners, team members and backers,” Gilbert wrote today that Bron — the parent company of Bron Studios and Bron Digital — had filed for creditor protection with the Supreme Court of British Columbia in Canada, where it is based, concurrent with chapter 15 in the U.S.
Perativ Holdings Ltd., a leading Canadian operator of ATMs, has filed for creditor protection after several years of operating losses, citing a pandemic-related decline in consumers’ use of cash, as well as two major thefts, the Globe and Mail reported. The company supplies banks with ATM management software and operates more than 7,000 “white label” ATMs. Such ATMs aren’t owned by banks, and are often located in small businesses that offer cash discounts or don’t accept credit payments.
An investor who allegedly kidnapped self-described crypto king Aiden Pleterski after investing $740,000 with him is asserting his innocence, iHeartRadio reported. Toronto police charged 39-year-old Akil Heywood, along with three others, with kidnapping Pleterski for ransom for three days last December. He has been released on bail for $10,000. Pleterski allegedly owes at least $35 million to cryptocurrency and foreign exchange investors, which petitioned the 24-year-old from Whitby, Ont., into bankruptcy almost a year ago.
Five men have been charged with kidnapping Ontario’s self-proclaimed ‘crypto king’ Aiden Pleterski in a bid to recoup their allegedly misappropriated investments, CBC Toronto has learned, the same day that a video of him visibly injured at the hands of kidnappers was shared with the outlet, Protos reported. 39-year-old Akil Heywood lost $740,000 in investments to the ‘crypto king’ and has been accused alongside four other men of kidnapping Pleterski last December.