http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1417311920100414 UPDATE 1-Zell sees political risk to investing in U.S. BOSTON, April 14 (Reuters) - The policies of the current U.S. administration have created "political risk" to investing in the United States, billionaire real estate investor Sam Zell said on Wednesday.
Dec. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Sam Zell, the real estate investor who took the Chicago-based Tribune Co. private in an $8.3 billion stock buyback two years ago, must face an employee lawsuit claiming he knowingly violated federal pension laws. U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer in Chicago rejected Zellâs request to dismiss the suit filed last year. The employees accuse Zell of working with board members and others who allegedly breached their fiduciary duty to the workers. The judge, in a ruling posted yesterday on the courtâs Web site, said that Zell helped engineer the transaction that left Tribune with almost $13 billion in debt even if he wasnât responsible to the Employee Stock Ownership Plan that privatized the newspaper and broadcasting company. The company, owner of the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times newspapers, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last year. The employee stock ownership plan that acquired the shares in the buyback is a federally protected pension plan. As many as 10,000 workers may have lost money as a result of how the shareholder buyout was executed, said Daniel Feinberg, an attorney for the employees in Oakland, California. While only six workers are named as plaintiffs in the suit, he said he will seek class-action certification to sue on behalf of other employees. âThis deal was misguided from the very beginning,â Feinberg said today in a phone interview. âIt was obvious from the start that this deal had a huge risk of insolvency because of the amount of debt.â