GRAPEVINE, Texas — Ryan Cohen, CEO of Grapevine-based GameStop and his company RC Ventures are being sued by the company that used to be known as Bed Bath & Beyond to recover more than $47 million they allegedly made from insider trading in 2022.
Cohen is also the founder of the online pet food retailer Chewy and took over as CEO of GameStop in 2023, the Associated Press reported.
The lawsuit, filed last week in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleges Cohen and RC Ventures used insider information to trade Bed Bath and Beyond (BBBY) stock between January and August of 2022 while acting as BBBY’s “statutory directors,” acting through deputized members of the board.
“The Cohen Defendants made dozens of purchases and sales of BBBY’s equity securities between January and August 2022, all of them profitable and most within a single period of less than six months,” the lawsuit reads. “At the time the profit was realized in August 2022, the Cohen Defendants were acting as BBBY’s statutory directors, entitling BBBY to recovery of the short-swing profit.”
“BBBY is entitled to recover a portion of the short-swing profit for the additional reason that the Cohen Defendants beneficially owned more than 10% of BBBY’s outstanding common stock when some of the purchases and sales were made,” the lawsuit continued.
The lawsuit alleges members of Bed Bath & Beyond’s board selected by Cohen “secured the Cohen Defendants access to and influence over BBBY’s management, and through the Cohen Appointees the Cohen Defendants received significant material nonpublic information about BBBY.”
The lawsuit seeks monetary damages as well as costs and fees, court documents show.
Cohen and RC Ventures didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment emailed to GameStop.
Bed Bath & Beyond filed for bankruptcy last April. Bloomberg reports the lawsuit is part of efforts by the company to recover funds for its creditors.
