Hasn't it been public knowledge for quite some time that he was pilfering Sears?

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/yw94vg/why-the-brutal-dea...

Headline on CNBC is less sensational, and includes "theft" in quotes.

The attribution "Sears" is also interesting, and equates to (I think) "Sears’ unsecured creditors". The claim that "Lampert was the cause of... Sears’ downfall" is a little wild-eyed, considering he "saved the retailer from complete liquidation" in 2004. In other words, Lampert ran the PE playbook, stripped Sears of its remaining value, and left creditors holding the bag.

Between Amazon and Walmart, retail is certainly competitive at the moment, but private equity firms seem to have done their best to run companies like Sears and Toys R Us into the ground.