Early Setback For Phil Falcone's New 'Sue Everything' Strategy

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Updated:: Jan 14, 2019
Original:: Oct 31, 2013

Phil Falcone cannot sue people for acting like Phil Falcone, so sayeth a federal bankruptcy judge. But Phil Falcone's company's company (for now) can!

Charlie Ergen's Dish Network Corp won dismissal on Tuesday of a lawsuit brought by Phil Falcone's Harbinger Capital Partners in a fight over LightSquared Inc, a wireless communications business that is in bankruptcy.
Harbinger had sought $4 billion from Dish in the lawsuit, alleging that Dish had tried to strip Falcone of ownership of LightSquared….
Chapman also said her ruling did not bar LightSquared, rather than its controlling shareholder Harbinger, from pursuing similar claims, the lawyers said.

What else her ruling means is open to interpretation, as oral traditions are wont to be, according to lawyers on both sides.

Robert Giuffra, an attorney at Sullivan & Cromwell who represented Dish and co-defendants EchoStar Corp, said Chapman also dismissed all other claims in the lawsuit.
David Friedman, an attorney with Kasowitz Benson Torres & Friedman who represented Harbinger, had a different take on Chapman's ruling. He said the judge did not dismiss one claim in the lawsuit, in which the hedge fund is attempting to block Ergen from collecting payments on $1 billion of LightSquared loans.
Dish did not immediately respond for a request for comment, and a transcript from the hearing was not immediately available.

Dish wins dismissal of Harbinger's LightSquared lawsuit [Reuters]
Earlier

LightSquared is a wireless venture that seeks to create “convenient connectivity for all." But those of you who've been keeping up know that to one man, it's so much more. That man, of course, being hedge fund manager Phil Falcone. LightSquared is his dream. His baby. His world. His everything. And, because he has poured his heart, soul, and firm's money into LightSquared, it is also the thing that stands to make or break Harbinger Capital. Success will mean billions for Falcone and his investors. Failure will mean Wilbur Falcone selling her eggs to a barren couple willing to pay top dollar for the DNA of a blue-eyed classically trained singer with an IQ of 150 and legs like Tina Turner. Unfortunately, things have not been going so well for LightSquared. The yachting community worries that GPS interference caused by LS will result in boats getting lost at sea. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says LightSquared“may degrade precision services that track hurricanes, guide farmers and help build flood defenses.” The FAA put out a study that estimates LS could “cost 794 lives in aviation accidents over 10 years with disruptions to satellite-aided navigation.” The only person defending the thing (besides Phil) is Karl Rove. Meanwhile, the SEC wants to see Falcone banned from the industry, Bloomberg News has put a reporter on the "Phil Falcone Pit Stains" beat, and his investors, for the most part, despise him for petty reasons that no rational adults would ever get upset about, like borrowing $113 million from a gated fund in order to pay personal taxes and tying up much of their capital in a side project building walkie-talkies that might not pan out on account of the growing opinion that it might kill a few people. At this time, a lesser man might decide to cut his losses and/or look within and say "Maybe my investors aren't the problem, maybe I'm the problem." Phil Falcone is no such man. He's figured out a few things and what they boil down to is that his impatient, pissy investors are what is standing in the way of LightSquared soaring, which it will, when it is ready. And if those pricks won't agree to stick around for an investment time horizon of inifinty, he'll find people who will. Harbinger Capital Partners' Philip Falcone, speaking at the SALT hedge-fund conference Wednesday in Las Vegas, hinted at an initial public offering, CNBC's Kate Kelly reported. "Harbinger is actually considering getting more permanent capital," Falcone said, according to Kelly, who said it suggests a potential IPO. "I'm moving toward a more permanent capital vehicle. We need to focus more on control," Falcone said, according to Kelly. No one said going from not having the cash to cover taxes to $25 billion was going to be easy. Harbinger's Falcone hints at potential IPO -CNBC [MarketWatch] Update: Falcone claims to have no idea what CNBC is talking about (asking Fox Business, "What the fuck would I IPO?")

This isn't 'Nam; there are rules.

1120

So his old firm just didn’t go it for a while.