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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCreditors allege Lampert orchestrated scheme to steal Sears
Longtime Sears boss and investor Eddie Lampert orchestrated a "multiyear and multifaceted scheme" to strip the company of assets and capitalize on its decline, a group of the retailer's major creditors alleged.
Lampert, who remains chairman of Sears and was CEO until the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October, presided over the closure of more than 3,500 stores and the loss of about 250,000 jobs, according to a scathing filing Wednesday by unsecured creditors.
The creditors are hoping to persuade a federal judge to force Sears to liquidate instead of accepting the latest offer by Lampert's hedge fund ESL Investments to keep a shrunken version of the company alive.
They took the unusual step of filing a 136-page history of what they called "Sears' tragic descent from giant to ghost."
Lampert "engaged in serial asset stripping" of the company after taking control in 2005 following the company's tie-up with Kmart, the creditors said. "Lampert was hopelessly conflicted as he presided over Sears' descent into insolvency and into a persistent state of liquidity crisis."
The creditors a group that includes major mall owners such as Simon Property Group also accused current Sears leaders of having "capitulated" to Lampert by allowing him to "steal the remaining assets" in a bankruptcy auction.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/creditors-allege-lampert-orchestrated-scheme-to-steal-sears/ar-BBSGMGc?li=BBnbfcN
guillaumeb
(42,641 posts)Charge large fees to dismantle the company and call it job creation.
lunasun
(21,646 posts)JHB
(37,163 posts)I'm not even close to expert enough to say with any confidence, but my wild-ass guess is that this sort of shit is what mostly accounts for the sort of job destruction and offshoring that trade agreements get popular blame for.