Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Feuding Tycoons Attend Same Synagogue

Don’t expect Ron Perelman and Ira Rennert to exchange gut yontif greetings anytime soon at Fifth Avenue Synagogue, where they’re both members.

The billionaires are embroiled in nasty tit-for-tat lawsuits “alleging the other man siphoned tens of millions from a business they co-own — AM General, the maker of Humvee military vehicles,” Crain’s NY Business reports today.

In a lawsuit filed in Delaware in late June, Perelman-controlled AM General alleges that Rennert’s Renco Group withdrew $109 million by borrowing from AM General at below-market rates “unfair and disadvantageous to the company,” Crain’s said. The suit also mentions another Jewish mega-financier; it alleges that that Rennert invested some of AM General’s cash with hedge fund manager Ezra Merkin, who famously funneled money to Bernie Madoff.

Rennert and his cronies, the suit complains, treat AM General “as a convenient drive-thru teller to which they pull up and ask themselves for as much money as they like.”

Rennert, in turn, accused Perelman of charging AM General excessive management fees and royalties — to the tune of $175 million, Crain’s said. The suit claims actions by Perelman and McAndrews & Forbes, his holding company, “reflect a consistent pattern by which they have repeatedly used their control of enterprises to unfairly enrich themselves at the expense of minority stakeholders.”

According to Crain’s, Rennert bought the company in 1992 for $133 million — and sold a 70% stake to Perelman for $935 million. Only $110 million was paid in cash; the rest was borrowed. “The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan drove such heavy demand for Humvees that Mr. Perelman’s company received $1.7 billion in distributions from AM General through last year, according to Mr. Rennert’s suit,” Crain’s said.

“A remarkable return,” Rennert’s suit noted, “even [after] subtracting the amounts that MacAndrews … diverted to itself from Renco.”

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.