A Texas-Size Feud for Sam Wyly

It was launched only last November, but already Dallas-based billionaire Sam Wyly's fledgling corporate-governance hedge fund is embroiled in litigation that could lead to its breakup. BusinessWeek Online has learned that in April, co-chairman of the fund and former Carl Icahn protege Russell D. Glass filed a lawsuit against the Wyly-controlled investment firm that had financially backed the entity, Ranger Partners.

In the civil complaint, filed in Delaware Chancery Court, Glass accuses Wyly's Ranger Entrepreneurs, L.P., of, among other things, breach of fiduciary duties, breach of contract, and "business extortion." Glass claims in the suit that Wyly and his entities attempted to get the financial upper hand over Glass in the joint venture the parties had formed to create Ranger Partners and other funds. The suit seeks, among other things, at least $200 million in damages and court enforcement of the original joint venture agreement.