Daimler has already admitted that its 19.9% share in Chrysler is worth absolutely zero as far as its corporate balance sheets are concerned, but that's not stopping Cerberus from going after that remaining bit as it tries to become the sole owner of the beleaguered American automaker. Without full control of Chrysler, Cerberus would have a tough time offloading it in either one lump deal or in smaller, bit-by-bit transactions. But it sounds like Chrysler's majority owner isn't making life easy for Daimler, accusing the German entity of providing incomplete information about Chrysler and prolonging the actual sale that took place late in 2007. As you'd expect, Daimler is denying these accusations completely and is claiming that Cerberus is making outlandish demands to take the rest of the company off its German hands.

Accusations beget accusations, so it's not terribly shocking that Cerberus has issued a press release countering Daimlers to explain its side of the story. From what we can discern from these early punches is that Cerberus has taken issue with Chrysler's past lease and financing practices while under Daimler's control. You can read the dueling press releases from Daimler and Cerberus after the break.

Despite the German and American origins of the dispute, the whole thing's playing out like a proper Telemundo telenovela. We await the obligatory kiss-and-make-up scene at the end.



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