Billionaire investor Ira Rennert failed to persuade a federal judge to throw out a jury verdict finding him liable for looting his now-defunct magnesium company to build one of the country's most expensive homes, on the east end of Long Island, N.Y., Reuters reported yesterday. U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan yesterday upheld all but $1 million of a $214 million award against the mining mogul and his holding company Renco Group Inc., and in favor of the trustee for bankrupt Magnesium Corp of America. Rennert is worth $6.1 billion, according to Forbes magazine. A Manhattan jury in February found Rennert and Renco liable for $118 million to the bankruptcy estate of Magnesium Corp., known as MagCorp, which sought protection from creditors in 2001. Nathan later added $96 million of interest, calculated at 6 percent a year from 2001, court records show. In Thursday's decision, Judge Nathan rejected Rennert's argument that the jury rendered an improper "compromise" verdict that did not reflect the facts or law they were supposed to consider.
