A batch of internal e-mails stolen from American Apparel on Christmas Eve has caught the attention of the Securities and Exchange Commission, sources told The Post.
The SEC has launched a probe into electronic correspondence between executives at the trendy retailer, including an alleged Christmas Eve e-mail from American Apparel’s new financial chief saying the company “almost went bankrupt,” sources said.
The probe is a fresh distraction for CEO Dov Charney, who is now scrambling to raise cash to pay off impatient creditors amid a brutal shopping environment.
Earlier this month, Charney met with billionaire investor Ron Burkle, requesting new financing to prop up the cash-strapped retailer, sources said.
It couldn’t immediately be determined whether Burkle has agreed to help Charney.
Also unclear is whether the SEC probe has reached the status of a formal investigation. An SEC spokesman declined to comment.
Separately, police are investigating a Christmas Eve break-in to American Apparel’s computer systems, according to people close to the company.
“American Apparel does not comment on rumors or speculation,” a spokesman for the retailer told The Post.
On Jan. 18, The Post reported exclusively on a series of alleged internal e-mails in which American Apparel employees bought Web ads and fed bloggers in an unusual cyber-campaign against Keith Fink – a Los Angeles attorney whose clients have sued Charney for sexual harassment and wrongful termination.
Also recently leaked to the press was an alleged e-mail in which CFO Adrian Kowalewski wrote to a fellow employee to decline a reporter’s request for an interview. Kowalewski noted that he had been sick after grappling with the company’s financial woes, and was busy boarding a plane for the holidays.
“We almost went bankrupt last Friday,” Kowalewski wrote in the Dec. 24 e-mail, which was intercepted and distributed to reporters days afterward. “I’m sorry but I was busy with that for the last several weeks.”
Kowalewski appeared to refer to American Apparel’s Dec. 19 amendment to credit agreements that allowed the cash-strapped company to push back the due dates for looming debt payments by three months.
The company announced the credit extensions immediately, sending its shares soaring 29 percent.
American Apparel’s quarterly 10-Q filing with the SEC in November mentioned a Dec. 19 deadline to extend the debt payments, noting that a failure to do so could force the company “to modify its current business plan, curtail operations or affect the company’s ability to continue operations as a going concern.”
While that’s “good disclosure,” it’s possible that the SEC thinks it came too late, said William Sherman, a partner at law firm Morrison & Foerster.