First Brands Examiner Runs Out of Budget as Fraud Probe Grows

The examiner for collapsed auto parts supplier First Brands is running out of money for his investigation into an alleged global fraud scheme.

If the examination budget doesn’t increase from the current $7 million, the examiner will either stop work and not complete the report or continue the investigation and produce an initial report that exceeds the budget—risking uncertainty about funding sources, examiner Martin De Luca said in an emergency motion Monday in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas.

Expenses have increased by more than $2 million following an expanded global investigation that uncovered what the ...