A group of Tribune Co. bondholders sought approval from a U.S. judge to investigate billionaire Sam Zell’s $8.3 billion buyout of the broadcasting and newspaper publisher, which they say drove it to bankruptcy.

Zell’s leveraged buyout and “the unsustainable debt burden imposed on a business already in a secular decline undoubtedly caused” Chicago-based Tribune’s bankruptcy, the bondholders said in a court filing in Wilmington, Del. They hold more than 18 percent of the company’s bonds, according to the filing.

Tribune sought protection from creditors less than a year after Zell took the company private, citing almost $13 billion in debt and falling advertising sales. Zell said in April that he had made a “mistake” with the purchase and had been “too optimistic” about the position of the company’s namesake Chicago newspaper.

The bondholders are seeking an investigation into possible “fraudulent conveyance” including the disclosure of e-mails and documents after being denied access to certain information, according to the filing. The bondholders want the judge to let them examine documents or to appoint an examiner to do it.

& #8226;

Read the full

Bloomberg News

story.