> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://broadbandbreakfast.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Creditors Sue Optimum, Allege Fraudulent Schemes to Address Billions in Debt
- URL: https://broadbandbreakfast.com/creditors-sue-optimum-allege-fraudulent-schemes-to-address-billions-in-debt/
- Published: 2026-09-29T20:45:32.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-29T21:47:03.000Z
- Description: The cable operator owes more than $21 billion, with $6 billion coming due next year
- Author: Jake Neenan
- Tags: Bankruptcy, joseph sorkin, Optimum, Patrick Drahi, oaktree, Apollo Global Management, #with-siderail

WASHINGTON, Sept. 29, 2026 – Several investment firms sued Optimum Communications Monday, alleging the ISP and its owner **Patrick Drahi** fraudulently sought to avoid paying its lenders what they were owed.

Optimum owes about $21 billion in debt, more than $6 billion of which comes due next year. The company has been working to restructure that debt with its lenders to avoid going bankrupt.

[![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/29/97/29976d9d-89ea-4c77-8c0b-0e8a0eafed35/content/images/2026/09/gilbert-banner-no-words-jpg-2.jpg)](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/telecom150/#bbb-offer) 

[***Sign Up for FREE for Section A of '150 Years of American Telecommunications'**](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/course/#bbb-offer)

[Sign up for FREE for Section A ](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/telecom150/#bbb-offer) 

“Rather than negotiating in good faith with the \[creditors\] and acknowledging that Drahi and other shareholders are out of the money, the Company and its co-conspirators executed a series of transactions that moved substantial value available to satisfy creditor claims directly into Drahi’s and other insider shareholders’ pockets,” **Joseph Sorkin**, an attorney representing the creditors, alleged.

The negotiations with lenders have been contentious. Optimum sued the companies, which include firms like Apollo and Oaktree, in federal court last year alleging they colluded to keep the cable provider’s debt expensive. The investment firms deny those claims.

Drahi bought assets that would be rolled together into Optimum in 2016\. His multibillion-dollar telecom empire, Altice, is also restructuring in the face of high debt and sold its Altice France unit for more than 24 billion euros (about $27 billion) last year.

The Monday lawsuit was filed with the New York County Supreme Court (in New York, general trial courts where litigation begins are called supreme courts). 

In the complaint, lenders alleged “those in control” of Optimum threatened to insulate assets and “eventually, to run the company into the ground” unless their creditors agreed to swap out existing loans for new ones that were worth billions less.

Optimum moved its [eastern footprint](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/optimum-raises-500-million-as-debt-wall-looms/) into a subsidiary untouchable by the creditors in June 2026\. At the same time, the entity raised $500 million from two institutional investors and Drahi, partially in exchange for less valuable Optimum shares. 

Those deals hurt Optimum and were contrived to force lenders to the table on unfavorable terms, the lawsuit argued.

The lenders alleged the independent managers who cleared the transactions were simply hired to make the maneuvering appear legitimate while working to help Drahi and hurt the investment firms he and his company owed money to.

“There is no legitimate business reason for these transactions, nor does the Company even attempt to offer one,” Sorkin wrote. “When it mattered most, these so-called independent fiduciaries approved transactions that benefited Drahi and actively harmed the stakeholders they are obligated to protect.”

Optimum said at the time the deals were aimed at increasing the likelihood of a deal with its lenders and mitigate its losses if that happened.

“Optimum strongly disagrees with the Co-Op group's allegations and believes their claims are without merit,” an Optimum spokesperson said in an email. “The actions the Company has taken to protect and maximize stakeholder value were conducted in full compliance with its existing debt agreements and applicable law, and the Company intends to address these claims through the appropriate legal channels.”