Lampert, Sears Creditors Gird for Battle Over Recent Asset Sales
- Bankruptcy allows bondholders to look into possible conflicts
- Sears chairman serves in same capacity for Sears’s landlord
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Creditors are sifting through the smoking ruins of Sears Holdings Corp.’s bankruptcy to question whether any of Eddie Lampert’s deals involving the bankrupt retailer were improper.
Lampert, 56, a billionaire who controls nearly half of Sears stock, has had interests on both sides of significant transactions the past few years. He remains the retailer’s chairman after resigning Monday as chief executive officer, and he’s also chairman of the retailer’s spinoff, Seritage Growth Properties, which collects rent from 230 Sears and Kmart stores. Lampert and his hedge fund, ESL Investments Inc., have loaned Sears $2.66 billion in a dozen different ways.