Arab Press

بالشعب و للشعب
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

McKinsey Bankruptcy Unit Faces Criminal Probe

McKinsey Bankruptcy Unit Faces Criminal Probe

A McKinsey & Co. unit faces mounting legal and court challenges as the giant consulting firm defends its bankruptcy-advisory business.
A global consulting company formerly headed by Canada’s new ambassador to China is reportedly under criminal investigation into allegations that it concealed conflicts of interest while advising bankrupt companies.

The investigation by U.S. federal prosecutors and a separate one by the U.S. Trustee Program, a unit of the Justice Department that oversees the administration of bankruptcy cases, cover the period when Canada’s Beijing envoy, Dominic Barton, was the global managing partner of McKinsey & Co. There is no indication that Mr. Barton himself is under investigation.

Mr. Barton served as CEO of the elite consulting giant for nine years and left the top job in July 2018, but stayed on as global managing partner emeritus until Sept. 4 this year when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau named him as Canada’s new ambassador to China.

The New York Times and Wall Street Journal cited unnamed U.S. prosecutors in New York and sources in the U.S. Justice Department, who said that McKinsey & Co. is the subject of a probe over whether it broke Chapter 11 bankruptcy rules. This includes, according to the New York Times, whether McKinsey “quietly steered valuable assets to itself or favoured its own clients over other creditors."

U.S. Justice Department spokesperson Nichole Navas Oxman declined to comment on media reports about a criminal investigation into McKinsey and Co. The office of Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland declined to say whether she is concerned about this probe.

Court battles over bankruptcy cases have cost McKinsey & Co. millions of dollars in penalties imposed by the U.S. bankruptcy watchdog including a US$15-million settlement in February over “disclosure deficiencies.” Late last year, McKinsey & Co. paid another US$17.5-million in a bankruptcy case involving renewable energy company SunEdison and promised to improve its disclosure protocols.

One of these U.S. court battles could see the Canadian ambassador to China called to testify about his former firm’s work on bankruptcy cases.

Jay Alix, the wealthy founder of restructuring giant AlixPartners, has spent the past three years pursuing McKinsey & Co., including Mr. Barton, in courts throughout the United States.

He blames Mr. Barton for failing to take corrective action on bankruptcy files while he was running the company, and his court actions have personally embroiled the former McKinsey head in ongoing legal matters.

On Oct. 29, a bankruptcy judge in a Texas coal bankruptcy case gave Mr. Alix the right to demand documents from McKinsey and question its executives under oath.

David Jones, a Houston judge, had told the court in January he “going to need to hear" from Mr. Barton personally rather than through a written deposition. “You get the truth by swearing people in, and put them on the stand, and you subject them to cross examination, and we figure what the truth is,” the judge said.

Daniel Lemisch, a lawyer for Mr. Alix, said he believes it’s likely the court will subpoena Mr. Barton. The case goes to trial in February 2020.

“Dominic Barton was the head of McKinsey at the time that the alleged improprieties took place in their disclosures,” Mr. Lemisch said.

McKinsey’s head office in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

Mr. Barton would not be covered by diplomatic immunity in this case because the investigation covers events in the United States, before he became ambassador to China.

Mr. Alix has provided the courts and media, including The Globe and Mail and New York Times, with transcripts of conversations he had with Mr. Barton over a 14-month period beginning in September, 2014. He alleges that Mr. Barton admitted to breaking bankruptcy laws, promised to get out of the bankruptcy business and later reneged and offered to steer consulting business to AlixPartners – a statement Mr. Alix saw as an attempted bribe.

Mr. Barton told The New York Times in March that Mr. Alix misconstrued what he actually meant.

“I was getting so fed up with his repetitive complaints that I said something like, ‘Jay, there are plenty of opportunities in the transformation service sector – apart from bankruptcy companies – that AlixPartners should see,” Mr. Barton told the Times.

In January of this year, a federal judge in Virginia reopened a bankruptcy case involving coal producer Alpha Natural Resources after learning that McKinsey & Co. had not disclosed, as required by law, that it was among the company’s secured creditors through MIO Partners, a US$25-billion investment fund for current and former McKinsey partners. The court heard that the head of McKinsey’s bankruptcy practice was also a member of MIO’s board.

The Wall Street Journal also reported Tuesday that prosecutors are examining McKinsey’s investment unit, MIO Partners. MIO held undisclosed stakes in hedge funds in roughly half of the bankruptcy cases it worked on between 2002 until the end of 2016.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Arab Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Trump Backs Putin’s Land-for-Peace Proposal Amid Kyiv’s Rejection
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
Iranian Protection Offers Chinese Vehicle Shipments a Cost Advantage over Japanese and Korean Makers
United States Sells Luxury Yacht Amadea, Valued at Approximately $325 Million, in First Sale of a Seized Russian Yacht Since the Invasion of Ukraine
Saudi Arabia accelerates renewables to curb domestic oil use
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez announce engagement
Asia-Pacific dominates world’s busiest flight routes, with South Korea’s Jeju–Seoul corridor leading global rankings
Private Welsh island with 19th-century fort listed for sale at over £3 million
Sam Altman challenges Elon Musk with plans for Neuralink rival
Australia to Recognize the State of Palestine at UN Assembly
The Collapse of the Programmer Dream: AI Experts Now the Real High-Earners
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
WhatsApp Users Targeted in New Scam Involving Account Takeovers
Trump Deploys Nuclear Submarines After Threats from Former Russian President Medvedev
Germany’s Economic Breakdown and the Return of Militarization: From Industrial Collapse to a New Offensive Strategy
Germany Enters Fiscal Crisis as Cabinet Approves €174 Billion in New Debt
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
Kurdistan Workers Party Takes Symbolic Step Towards Peace in Northern Iraq
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
Russia Formally Recognizes Taliban Government in Afghanistan
Saudi Arabia Maintains Ties with Iran Despite Israel Conflict
Mediators Edge Closer to Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Agreement
Germany Seeks Taliban Deal to Deport Afghan Migrants
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
Robots Compete in Football Tournament in China Amid Injuries
×