Atari Corp, revitalised under Jack Tramiel, is one of the quickest in the industry to reach for its lawyer when anything goes wrong: last time it was the prices Micron Technology was charging for its memory chips, now it’s a suspicion that it was conned in its acquisition of electrical retail chain Federated Group Inc. It is suing former officers of Fderated, the retailer’s accountants Ernst & Whinney, and its investment bankers, Goldman, Sachs & Co, under the splendidly-named US federal Racketeer Influenced & Corrupt Organisations statute alleging that they knowingly overstated Federated’s net worth by $43m, causing Atari to pay that much too much for the company when it paid $67.3m last August. Federated’s poor performance was a drag on Atari’s profits in the most recent quarter, and Atari wants damages of at least $43m, punitively tripled under terms of the statute.