Dish Network Corp. Chairman Charles Ergen is set to defend his purchase of $1 billion in debt in bankrupt wireless provider LightSquared Inc. against claims by Philip Falcone that the investment was improper, Bloomberg News reported today. Falcone, whose Harbinger Capital Partners LLC controls LightSquared, has accused Ergen of surreptitiously buying the debt to hijack LightSquared’s reorganization and get control of the company’s airwaves. Ergen, who is scheduled to testify today before Bankruptcy Judge Shelley Chapman, has defended the debt purchases as a smart investment and said that he made no “false representations” in pursuing it. Falcone is seeking to disallow the $1 billion claim. He has proposed that he hold onto the Reston, Va.-based LightSquared, into which he has already sunk $3 billion. He may to testify later in the trial.
