Optimum Says Kirkland Quitting Proves Wall Street ‘Cartel’

Optimum Communications Inc. said a top law firm’s withdrawal from representing it under pressure from Apollo Global Management, Ares Management, Oaktree Capital Management and others showed that they were participating in a cartel against it.

Optimum, previously known as Altice USA, sued the credit arms of those private equity giants and other creditors in November, saying they had formed an “illegal cartel” to freeze it out of the US credit market. In a revised complaint filed Wednesday, the telecommunications firm said “the antitrust conspiracy has only intensified” in the last three months.