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Sears President Eddie Lampert told Massachusetts Democrats Elizabeth Warren and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York on Thursday whether Sears had paid severance pay to their fired employees.
Lampert responded that he had broken his promises and betrayed Sears employees, "who trust the compensation promised to them to pay the rent, take care of the children and put the money food on the table ", claiming that this information was" false. "
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In a letter obtained exclusively by CNBC – and confirmed as accurate to FOX Business by a source close to the situation – Lampert said the reports referred to a group of people fired by what is called "Old Sears". "New Sears" refers to the company that emerged after Sears' purchase by Lampert through Transform Holdco, part of its ESL Investments hedge fund.
"We understand that Old Sears has already paid severance pay to these employees," Lampert wrote.
At the end of last month, Warren and Ocasio-Cortez sent Lampert a letter criticizing him for having withdrawn from his responsibilities towards former workers.
Lampert explained that, according to the report, New Sears was disengaging from the fact that the latter owed more than $ 50 million in assets under the asset purchase agreement. Lampert stated that the amount New Sears owes to his former parent is reduced in dollars per dollar of the amount owed to him. A portion of these payments consisted of a refund of severance pay, but Lampert stated that the fact that New Sears respects their payments is unrelated to whether the employees were paid.
He added that New Sears had also paid severance pay to his former employees.
The businessman also defended his Old Sears leadership position, saying his failure was not due to "a venal conspiracy to steal his assets." He also claimed that job losses at the retailer are not isolated – citing a number of other retailers who cut employees.
"Choosing Sears and publicly denigrating me and the company because we have not been able to successfully transform Old Sears, while so many others have suffered the same fate, is unhappy and unfair," said Lampert.
Lampert was unable to say if any other shops would close in the future.
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A bankruptcy judge approved Lampert's $ 5.2 billion plan to save 425 stores and 45,000 jobs in February. At the time, ESL announced that New Sears would continue to operate as many stores as possible, including newer ones.
Lampert said the company had opened three "new small format stores" in the last month.
Sears filed for bankruptcy in October as it struggled to adjust to the current retail environment, weighed down by debt and liabilities. The company has not made a profit since 2010.
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