Ryan Cohen, the billionaire chief executive of GameStop, must face a lawsuit by the company once known as Bed Bath & Beyond to recoup $47.2 million of profit from trading its stock before the home goods retailer went bankrupt.
US District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald in Manhattan on Friday said Cohen and his RC Ventures must defend against a claim they bought and sold a more than 10% Bed Bath stake within six months, making them liable as insiders to repay “short-swing” profits.
Cohen claimed he did not know his stake topped 10% when he invested in March 2022, because the retailer was quietly repurchasing its own stock.
But the judge said Bed Bath had disclosed its buyback program, and it “strains credulity” that Cohen would invest so heavily without reviewing its disclosures to investors.
Cohen abruptly sold his Bed Bath stake in August 2022, for an estimated $60 million profit.