Creditors of Patrick Drahi’s Altice International have initiated legal action in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, accusing the telecoms group and associated entities of transferring assets worth billions of euros to place them beyond the reach of lenders who are owed approximately €8 billion. The lawsuit was filed by a consortium of creditors including Elliott Management and London-based credit funds Sona Asset Management and Arini Capital Management.

The legal move marks a further escalation in a protracted dispute between Altice International and its creditors. In July, the lenders accused the company of defaulting on more than €2 billion in debt, alleging that a series of transactions violated key provisions of its borrowing agreements. This latest suit follows a similar complaint filed last month by creditors of Altice’s US operations, such as Apollo Global Management and Oaktree Capital, who contended that Drahi was personally responsible for a deliberate effort to move valuable cable television assets out of the reach of bondholders.

In response to these allegations, Altice declined to provide a comment. Separately, Altice has filed its own lawsuit against the US bondholder group, accusing them of forming an illegal cartel by collaborating as a unified bloc to negotiate restructuring terms. The bondholders have denied the cartel claims and are seeking to have Altice’s lawsuit dismissed.

Patrick Drahi, a Franco-Israeli telecommunications magnate, built a sprawling business empire heavily financed through more than $60 billion in debt during a period of low interest rates. He has been engaged in ongoing negotiations with creditors to restructure the company’s borrowings.

Last year, Drahi took the controversial step of shifting Altice International’s Portuguese and Dominican Republic operations—Altice Portugal and Altice Caribbean—out of the pool of assets available to creditors in the event of debt default. These two entities represent approximately 80 percent of Altice International’s earnings. Creditors claim in their filing that these transfers were fraudulent and intended to shield valuable assets, effectively preventing creditors from recovering owed funds while enriching Drahi personally.

A similar pattern has appeared in Drahi’s US cable business, where valuable pay-TV and broadband assets were also moved out of creditors’ reach earlier this year, further straining relations with major Wall Street investors.

In June, Drahi agreed to sell the French arm of his telecom business, SFR, in a €20.35 billion deal to a consortium of rival operators including Bouygues Telecom, Iliad, and Orange. The transaction is pending regulatory approval. This sale followed a restructuring agreement that reduced Altice France’s debt from €24 billion to €15.5 billion after negotiations with creditors.