Ron Burkle’s Yucaipa Cos. is suing the buyout shop that acquired Harvey Weinstein’s former entertainment studio in a bankruptcy sale, accusing Lantern Capital Partners LP of fraud in connection with the $289 million deal, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Lantern declined comment, citing a policy of not commenting on ongoing litigation. The allegations stem from a time when both Yucaipa — the investment firm co-founded by Burkle, a billionaire grocery-store magnate — and Lantern were involved in an effort to help Weinstein Co. avoid bankruptcy. According to Yucaipa, it did the work, but Lantern did the deal, and the new owner is refusing to pay an agreed-to fee for using information gathered by Yucaipa to acquire the Weinstein film and TV business. In a lawsuit filed in state court in California, Yucaipa says it shared information with Lantern based on an agreement that Lantern allegedly never intended to honor.
