Chrysler LLC’s creditors have filed a lawsuit against Daimler AG charging that the German automaker unlawfully stripped billions of dollars in assets from the U.S. carmaker before selling it to a private equity firm.

In the suit, the creditors claim that in the months leading up to the 2007 sale of most of Chrysler to Cerberus Capital Management LP, Daimler undertook a restructuring of Chrysler that removed key parts of the company for little or nothing in return.