By Jonathan Stempel
(Reuters) - Carl Icahn said on Monday he was pleased a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit accusing the billionaire of defrauding shareholders of his investment company Icahn Enterprises so he could obtain large amounts of personal loans.
The lawsuit followed a May 2023 report by the short-selling firm Hindenburg Research that questioned whether Icahn's company inflated its share price by paying out excessive shareholder dividends, enabling Icahn's borrowing. Hindenburg also accused Icahn of overseeing a "Ponzi-like economic structure."
Icahn owns 85% of his namesake company, and has lost many billions of dollars because its stock price has fallen by more than three-quarters since the Hindenburg report, touching a more than 20-year low last week.
But in a decision on Friday, U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore in Miami said Icahn Enterprises sufficiently disclosed its risks to shareholders. The judge also said evidence suggested that Icahn "believed in the long-term value" of his company.
Icahn Enterprises called the lawsuit "meritless," and Icahn said in a statement: "We are pleased that the spurious claims of various unscrupulous characters, working together in a coordinated and clandestine network, have been debunked."
The 88-year-old Icahn also said he is "absolutely not selling" Icahn Enterprises shares, denying contrary claims he said were in media reports.
Lawyers for the shareholders did not respond to requests for comment on Friday after the decision, and to further requests for comment on Monday.
Last month, Icahn and his company agreed without admitting wrongdoing to pay $2 million in civil fines to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charges he did not disclose pledging large quantities of shares as collateral for his loans.
Icahn's fortune far exceeded $10 billion for many years, and is now $4.9 billion according to Forbes magazine.
The case is Kosowsky v Icahn Enterprises LP et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, No. 23-21773.