Obama SEC sues LightSquared backer Philip Falcone and Harbinger for fraud?

The federal government has committed itself to destroying once-favored Democratic political donor Philip Falcone, turning its back on a man whose investment efforts were aided by the Obama administration’s use of political and regulatory muscle.

On Wednesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleged that Falcone — who made billions betting against subprime mortgages during the housing crisis — and his investment firm, Harbinger Capital Partners LLC, had “fraudulently obtained $113.2 million from a hedge fund that he advised and misappropriated the proceeds to pay his personal taxes.”

Falcone’s attorney says the charges are unsupported, but the billionaire hedge-fund manager and backer of the now bankrupt broadband company LightSquared, owed that same amount in federal and state taxes in 2009, according to the agency’s filing, by which he took a loan from his firm to repay the debt.