Ergen hit with a $4bn lawsuit
August 7, 2013
By Chris Forrester
Normally it is billionaire EchoStar/Dish-owner Charlie Ergen who initiates billion-dollar lawsuits. But on August 6th a New York bankruptcy court was told that Ergen – and Dish Network – had allegedly “fraudulently schemed” to prevent Harbinger Capital Partners LLC from maintaining control of bankrupt wireless company LightSquared Inc.
The complaint was filed in a $4 billion action by Harbinger, and its boss Phil Falcone. The lawsuit in the US Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan was filed on Tuesday at almost the exact the same time as Ergen was telling Dish investors and analysts that he was interested in acquiring LightSquared.
Ergen has turned his focus to LightSquared after dropping out of a takeover fight for another wireless company, Sprint Corp, which agreed to wrap a deal with Japan’s SoftBank Corp instead. Ergen increased his bid for LightSquared to $2.2 billion last month.