Creditors to Optimum Communications Inc. are suing the telecommunications company, demanding it unwinds transfers they claim siphoned away value into the pockets of insiders, including controlling shareholder Patrick Drahi. In a lawsuit filed in New York on Monday, the lenders cite transactions undertaken by the debt-laden company, formerly called Altice USA, that they claim moved away assets for the benefit of its majority shareholders, underscoring the “impropriety” of their conduct. They also allege Optimum executed these collateral transfers even though there was no legitimate business reason.

With these transactions, “the short-term value created by the ‘Altice Way’ is then siphoned off to Drahi and his associates through management fees, dividends or gratuitous compensation awards, while the business is left with hamstrung operations and unsustainable debt obligations and, ultimately, its creditors suffer the consequences of Drahi’s value stripping,” according to the complaint. An Optimum spokesperson said in an emailed statement that the company “strongly disagrees with the co-op group’s allegations and believes their claims are without merit.”

The litigation lands as the company and a group of creditors have been holding confidential talks over the last several weeks to hash out a restructuring plan to address its more than $26 billion debt stack, according to people familiar with the situation. Monday’s suit cites a number of deals over the last several years that creditors contend breach debt documents and were unlawful, including the May issuance of preferred shares in what creditors have claimed is a “sham” unrestricted subsidiary. The creditors allege that not only did Drahi and other “insiders” directly benefit from the deal, but the preferred shares also acted as a financial penalty on the debtholders of the CSC Holdings unit.