Harbinger Capital Sues Dish’s Ergen Over Move on LightSquared Debt
Phil Falcone’s Harbinger Capital Partners sued Dish Network Corp. Chairman Charlie Ergen for fraud, accusing him of secretly acquiring the debt of LightSquared Inc., in order to take control of the telecommunications firm and its wireless spectrum worth billions of dollars.
The hedge fund’s lawsuit, filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York, accuses Mr. Ergen of using a front company to buy more than $1 billion in LightSquared debt at a steep discount. Mr. Ergen purchased LightSquared’s debt through a hedge fund, SP Special Opportunities LLC, he controls. The purchase put him in the driver’s seat to bring the company out of bankruptcy.
