Sears Holdings suit claims Lampert stripped assets

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. ― Sears Holdings Corp. filed suit last week against former chairman Eddie Lampert, alleging that he sold and spun off assets to enrich himself and his hedge fund, ESL Investments. “Altogether, Lampert caused more than $2 billion of assets to be transferred to himself and Sears’ other shareholders and beyond the reach of Sears’ creditors,” the 110-page filing states. It points to the 2014 spinoff of Land’s End as well as the creation of Lampert’s Seritage Growth the following year, in order to extract revenue from Sears’ properties. In a statement to the Associated Press, ESL Investments called the allegations “baseless” and “fanciful”.