The months leading up to a retailer’s bankruptcy filing can be a scramble of payments hastily made to some and withheld from others, as many vendors insist on getting paid quickly if they’re shipping at all. But those payments risk getting clawed back down the line — and in the case of Barneys New York’s bankruptcy, a joint venture linked to its lender is now seeking to collect.   
When Barneys sold its assets in a $271.4 million sale to Authentic Brands Group, which teamed with lender B. Riley Financial Inc. on the deal, the agreement included a provision for something called “avoidance actions,” which refers to lawsuits that can be filed — usually either by the company in bankruptcy or a trustee — against creditors who got paid by the company before its bankruptcy filing. 
The reason that the option exists at all to sue those creditors is to serve a fundamental goal of bankruptcy proceedings — spreading the losses more fairly, said bankruptcy experts. 
“Because we allow debtors to make any transfer they want before they file for bankruptcy, they can make strategic or preferential payments and then file, which would allow debtors to rearrange their affairs and pay their cronies without

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