Lampert firm strikes back at Sears estate

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Eddie Lampert’s Transform Holdco LLC, the unit of ESL Investments that acquired Sears in January, is countersuing the bankrupt retailer’s shell entity alleging it has not delivered on “hundreds of millions of dollars of assets” owed to Transform under the terms of the sale. Transform is accusing the Sears estate of several torts, including retaining Sears’ Chicago-area headquarters and delaying payments to vendors. The estate has already filed its own suit against Lampert and other defendants, including U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, last month, arguing that they wrongly stripped the company of assets in the final years before its bankruptcy.