Guess? Sale Hit With Challenge Tied to Sex Abuse Scandal (2)

Guess? Inc. founders Paul and Maurice Marciano orchestrated the retailer’s $1.4 billion buyout to escape accountability for Paul’s alleged decades-long pattern of sexually abusing and harassing fashion models including Kate Upton, according to a lawsuit unsealed Thursday.

A group of funds is challenging the take-private transaction, saying the Marcianos and their allies were driven by wide-ranging conflicts of interest to engineer an underpriced sale to Authentic Brands Group LLC. The $16.75-per-share price was “patently inadequate,” according to the proposed class action filed in Delaware’s Chancery Court.

The transaction, which included the Marcianos as co-investors, closed in January. The brothers ...