Creditors to EchoStar’s Hughes Hire Lawyers to Probe Lease Deal

Some creditors to Hughes Satellite Systems Corp. engaged law firm Glenn Agre Bergman & Fuentes to scrutinize a costly lease arrangement that they say funnels cash away from the unit to its parent EchoStar, according to people familiar with the situation.

Hughes, which provides satellite internet service, recently disclosed it had entered into a seven year operating lease agreement with billionaire Charlie Ergen’s EchoStar effective last December, according to regulatory filings. The arrangement calls for Hughes to pay its parent a monthly fee of $15.9 million for access to the EchoStar XXIV satellite to provide rural broadband ...