Dive Brief:
- As the result of a bankruptcy hearing in Tampa, FL, the FBI will pay for and take over more than 100 boxes of documents that Tampa-based Creative Recycling Systems abandoned at a storage facility. An earlier filing by Michael Markham, the attorney representing Creative Recycling's bankruptcy trustee, indicated the documents could be of use to "governmental agencies with open investigations of the debtors."
- Regions Bank, the creditor whose $18 million lawsuit initiated the downfall of the e-waste recycling company, said the records could contain sensitive and confidential client data, such as HIPAA-protected records.
- Creative Recycling filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in summer 2014, but later converted it to Chapter 7 liquidation. A company that invested in Creative Recycling in 2012 sued former CEO Jonathan Yob and his LLC, JY Creative, claiming financials were misrepresented during their deal. Yob has denied many of the allegations, and said Regions allowed $1.5 million to be embezzled by a former employee, according to the Tampa Bay Business Journal.
Dive Insight:
The privately held e-waste recycler shuttered two facilities and let go 70 employees in summer 2014. The decision was prompted by a series of unexpected circumstances, including the loss of competitive bid opportunities and cash flow difficulties. In 2012, the company reported revenue of $33.8 million.
Tampa Bay Business Journal reports that, as the bankruptcy case continues, sensitive documents are now in the hands of the FBI, which could hold them for up to four years before shredding them.