Breaking Defense: Deputy defense secretary nominee has ‘clear conflict of interest’ with Ligado lawsuit: Sen. Warren

Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren is raising concerns with deputy defense secretary nominee Stephen Feinberg’s ties to Ligado Networks, arguing that Feinberg’s family or the private equity firm he founded could financially benefit from the ongoing lawsuit between the communications company and the US government.

Feinberg’s Cerberus Capital Management owns about 14 percent of the communications company’s debt and 24 percent of its preferred stock, according to court documents cited by Warren in a March 9 letter to Feinberg, exclusively obtained by Breaking Defense.

Ligado, now going through bankruptcy proceedings, is engaged in a $39 billion lawsuit against the US government over claims that officials at the Departments of Defense and Commerce took “unlawful actions” to, in effect, improperly seize without compensation the firm’s L-band spectrum. 

That situation could create a “huge conflict of interest” should Feinberg become the department’s No. 2 official, wrote Warren, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

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