Perhaps "attempted to gain" might be better way to put it. The first thing he did was have Sears take on a huge amount of debt owed to financial service compan

Perhaps "attempted to gain" might be better way to put it. The first thing he did was have Sears take on a huge amount of debt owed to financial service companies that he controlled. Then sell real estate to companies that he controlled and have Sears pay rent to them. This list goes on.