Charter-Liberty Deal, Precursor to Cox Merger, Draws Scrutiny

“Cable Cowboy” John Malone likely orchestrated a self-dealing combination of two affiliates, Charter Communications Inc. and Liberty Broadband Corp., before Charter’s planned $34.5 billion merger with Cox Communications Inc., a shareholder lawsuit said Wednesday.

A pension fund sued Charter for information about its planned all-stock acquisition of Liberty, saying Malone appears to have engineered the transaction to siphon money from Charter’s public investors into his own pockets. The telecom mogul, a former Charter director, stood on both sides of the $95-per-share deal through his 48.5% stake in Liberty, which owns 28% of Charter, according to the filing ...