Peter Brant Cuts $1.5M Deal With Himself for Interview MagazineInterview is all set to relaunch in September with a transgender cover model and a big photographer, but Brant needs to pay himself first.

[Collection]Interview magazine is indeed heading for a fall “relaunch” sans more than $3 million in unpaid debts because of legal moves by its owner, Peter Brant. Former publishing magnate Brant is pushing a speedy sale process for Interview’s assets, demanding that the yet-to-be-approved deal close by the end of August, a deal in which Brant is seller and buyer. By filing for liquidation, which requires a company to be in such financial straits that it is unable to afford to restructure, much less pay creditors, Interview is able to avoid paying all of its $3.3 million in debts to various partners, freelancers and even longtime staffers. In the few months before the bankruptcy, Brant set up a new holding company, Singleton LLC, which holds his single $8 million secured claim on Interview’s assets, stemming from his regular cash injections to keep the magazine running. Now it’s Singleton that has executed a deal to buy Interview’s assets for $1.5 million. So, in effect, Brant has agreed to pay himself $1.5 million for a magazine he already owned, but was supposedly tired of floating, and put into liquidation. He’s demanding that the sale to himself close by Aug. 31 — fortuitous timing as Interview is set

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