Falcone swoops past Ergen in battle over LightSquared

Billionaire investor Phil Falcone just left satellite mogul Cꦆharlie Ergen eating his dust as he took the lead in their vicious months-long battle over bankrupt w﷽ireless company LightSquared.

On Wednesday, Falcone’s hedge fund, Harbinger Capital P♚artners, cut a deal with a group of hard-hitting Wall Street investors to buy LightSquared out of b✃ankruptcy for $3.3 billion in cash and $1.7 billion in debt, sources told The Post.

The competing offer𓂃 was presented to LightSquared’s special committee in charge 𓆉of the company’s bankruptcy late Wednesday afternoon — just as Ergen was set to bid $2.2 billion for its assets at auction.

The auction, set for 3 pm, was pushed back 𒐪and then canওceled as the committee considered the higher offer, sources said.

The offer 💞would give private-equity firm Centerbridge Partners the lead equity position. Also included in the transaction is private-equity fi⭕rm Fortress and JPMorgan, sources said.

Harbinger, w🀅hich has been LightSquared’s top shareholder since 2010, will retain an equity stake, a person with knowledge of the deal told The Post. Ergen’s $2.2 billion offer, by contrast, would cut Harbinger out entirely.

If they prevail, Centerbridge and its partners may seek to refuse to pay Ergen his $1 billion in LightSquared’s de🅘bt — at least until a lawsuit over the le🦋gality of his purchase is resolved, a source told The Post.

On ไTuesday, a bankruptcy court judge refused to toss LightSquared’🐎s lawsuit against Ergen and his Dish Network over Ergen’s $1 billion stake, which allegedly violates covenants forbidding strategic buyers from owning the debt.