In hindsight, the telltale signs of trouble were piling up: the Zoom calls where the owner kept his camera off; the angry pushback from his brother when investors asked for invoices to back up their loans; the frequent late payments to suppliers; and the whispers of large off-the-books financing arrangements.
That so few outside of First Brands had a full view of all the red flags around the auto-parts supplier before it imploded spectacularly late last month, stands as a stark example of the growing risks of money flooding into the opaque world of private financing. How it operated, where it got its money and even the people running it were largely a mystery.
First Brands: How Jefferies, UBS Ended Up Exposed to Its Collapse
