When Interior Define began a liquidation process in late December, the Chicago-based custom furniture retailer left thousands of customers with unfulfilled orders and little hope of recovering their money.
But the since-failed Silicon Valley Bank was repaid millions by Interior Define as both stood on the precipice of collapse.
In a confluence of business implosions, documents show Silicon Valley Bank was a secured lender to Interior Define before the retailer made an assignment for the benefit of creditors, a bankruptcy alternative under Illinois law that bypasses the courts to transfer an insolvent company’s assets free of unsecured debt.
