Bankrupt Brooklyn Mirage Owner Sues Lenders Over Financing Deals

Bankrupt New York City live entertainment company Avant Gardner accused several lenders of “predatory financing agreements” during renovations of its flagship Brooklyn Mirage venue.

The deals, often labeled as “receivables purchases” or “cash advances,” were actually high-interest, fixed-repayment loans with oppressive terms, Avant Gardner said in a complaint Tuesday in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

Only two of the eight agreements—executed between January and April—were called “loans,” the company said. The terms allowed lenders to extract “outsized returns” regardless of Avant Gardner’s finances and “well in excess” of the receipts from receivables they supposedly purchased.

Avant ...