On, August 17, 2021, George Assad announced that, Pershing Square Tontine Holdings is not a proper special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), but rather an investment firm, a legal distinction that determines how SPACs can use its funding and compensate its founders. Further, George Assad complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, seeks a declaratory judgment that PSTH is an investment company and requests damages reflecting PSTH’s breach of fiduciary obligations under the Investment Company Act of 1940, a law that primarily regulates mutual funds that's stiffer than the rules that govern SPACs. In addition, George Assad alleges that PSTH dedicated most of its time to purchase the common stock of Universal Music Group. The lawsuit cites a PSTH document released on July 8 that describes how the company began its due diligence of Universal Music Group in October of 2020 three months after its IPO, and constantly engaged with the label group until the share purchase agreement was signed on June 20.