Activist investor firm Ancora Holdings Group and Chairman and CEO Fred DiSanto on April 7 filed a lawsuit against U.S. Steel Corp. in Ohio’s Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas for making defamatory statements about Ancora’s shareholder activism.
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In a letter sent to U.S. Steel shareholders on March 24, U.S. Steel’s leadership falsely accused DiSanto and Ancora of running a previous proxy contest for personal gain and claimed that DiSanto had been accused by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of violating a non-existent “Anti-Greenmail Statute.”
Ancora had previously been accused of “greenmail” during a proxy battle with retailer Big Lots. The Corpus Christi Firefighters’ Retirement System accused Ancora of attempting to manipulate Big Lots’ stock price, but the Ohio Courts ruled in Ancora’s favor, dismissing the claims in March 2024.
“Mr. DiSanto and Ancora have never run a proxy contest for their personal benefit and Mr. DiSanto and Ancora have never been accused by the SEC of violating the Anti-Greenmail Statute or extracting millions of dollars of profit for himself. Indeed, there is no federal “anti-greenmail” statute,” the lawsuit said.
Cleveland, Ohio-based Ancora had launched a proxy battle with U.S. Steel earlier this year over concerns about the company’s leadership and direction. However, on April 9, Ancora announced it was withdrawing its nomination of director candidates for U.S. Steel’s annual meeting on May 6 due to President...
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