Icahn Sues Real Estate Firm for $300 Million

Billionaire financier Carl Icahn filed a $300-million lawsuit against the owners of former nightclub king Ian Schrager’s trendy hotels, charging they cheated shareholders in three real estate ventures.

Icahn, the famed 1980s corporate raider best known for battles for control of Texaco, TWA and Reynolds Tobacco, turned to the New York State Supreme Court to redress what he says is a “blatant disregard for shareholders” in three real estate investment trusts, Shelbourne Properties I, II and III .

Icahn offered to buy the REITs, but Shelbourne’s management company, NorthStar Capital Investment Corp., kept his highest bid from shareholders, according to the suit.

The suit, filed late last month, alleges that NorthStar failed to present to Shelbourne board members details of Icahn’s sweetened $190-million bid for the three REITs.

Calls to NorthStar and Shelbourne for comment weren’t immediately returned.