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Ira Rennert skewered during testimony

By
Josh Kosman
Published Dec. 9, 2015, 11:29 p.m. ET

Industrialist Ira Rennert on Wednesday testified before a Manhattan federal court judge that talks four years ago between his struggling RG Steel and potential lenders did not include the sale of a piece of the company.

But the disgraced billionaire executive got tripped up when a lawyer for the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. later showed him a Dec. 13, 2011, e-mail in which Cerberus Capital Management, one of the potential lenders, proposed getting warrants to acquire up to 30 percent of the company.

“I don’t think this is accurate,” Rennert, 81, said. “I think they were trying to work out a better deal for themselves.”

Judge Richard Sullivan then studied the e-mail and told Rennert that it was family-run holding company Renco asking to include warrants in the deal.

Rennert — for whom it was his first and last day of testimony — smiled widely and said he never saw the e-mail.

Rennert and his son, Ari, stand accused by the PBGC of lying to them about the sale of a 24.5 percent stake in the ailing steel maker in order to sidestep roughly $70 million in pension liabilities.

The PBGC, believing Renco was about to sell more than 20 percent of RG Steel — which would mean Rennert would no longer retain the massive pension liability — was preparing to terminate the steelmaker’s pension plan.

That would have saddled Renco with the $70 million liability.

Ira Rennert leaves Manhattan federal court on Dec. 7.Steven Hirsch

But Rennert, worth $6.1 billion, according to Forbes, and his son lied to the PBGC in a January phone call by saying no such sale was imminent, the PBGC alleges.

About one week later, the 24.5 percent stake was sold to Cerberus. Months later, RG Steel went bankrupt, saddling the PBGC with the $70 million pension liability.

But Renco denies the charges, saying that it never lied.

Rennert, who shuns the public eye, is no stranger to the Manhattan federal court house.

Earlier this year, a federal jury found that Rennert and Renco unjustly enriched themselves by deceiving bondholders of their bankrupt MagCorp. They were ordered to repay the company $117 million.

The matter is on appeal.

Rennert made headlines years ago for building a 62,000-square-foot mansion in Southampton — believed to be among the largest homes in the US.

The PBGC trial is expected to last the remainder of the week.