Beneficient CEO Brad Heppner resigns from board and executive roles

Brad Heppner, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Beneficient (NASDAQ:BENF), resigned from his positions effective immediately, according to a statement included in a press release Wednesday. The company, which is based in Dallas and trades on the Nasdaq Stock Market at $0.29 per share, disclosed the resignation in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The news comes as BENF faces significant challenges, with InvestingPro data showing the stock has lost nearly 63% year-to-date and maintains a concerning "WEAK" Financial Health Score of 1.52.

According to the filing, Heppner’s resignation followed a request from company counsel, acting on behalf of the board’s audit committee, for Heppner to participate in a formal interview. The interview was to address his knowledge of certain documents and information related to his relationship with a related entity, information that had previously been provided to the company’s auditors in 2019. The company stated that Heppner refused this request.

The correspondence from Heppner’s counsel, attached as an exhibit to the filing, indicated that Heppner disagreed with the company’s potential voluntary disclosure of his refusal to sit for the interview. The filing further notes that the company had sought Heppner’s agreement to step away from the company, transfer certain rights of Beneficient Holdings, Inc.—an entity controlled by Heppner—under a stockholders agreement, and convert specific preferred unit accounts to meet Nasdaq’s stockholders’ equity requirements for initial listing.

Prior to his resignation, Heppner served on several board committees, including the Nominating, Community Reinvestment, Executive, Enterprise Risk, and Credit Committees.

Beneficient indicated that it will provide Heppner with a copy of the disclosures contained in the SEC filing on the same day as the filing. The information in this article is based on a press release statement and the company’s Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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