Lynn Tilton is counting down to a huge deadline

The clock is ticking for Lynn Tilton, founder and CEO of private equity firm Patriarch Partners.

She has until November 20 to avoid default on one of the firm's credit funds, according to an interview she gave to Bloomberg Television on Tuesday November 10.

Tilton is being sued over the fund, called Zohar I, by investors who claim they were misled by Tilton about the fund's accounting standards.

In the interview, Tilton said she owns two-thirds of the notes in Zohar I, which invested in companies controlled by Patriarch Partners. The remaining portion of the notes are owned by MBIA, with which Tilton must negotiate to restructure the debt. Failure to do so, will cause a default.

"I'm surprised that we're at this point where the maturity will come," Tilton said in her interview.

The Zohar notes are at the center of a Securities and Exchange Commission case that accuses Tilton of fraud.

Specifically, the key issue is whether or not her financial statements pertaining to the Zohar funds (there are three: Zohar I, II and III) were prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.

In a federal filing at the time she raised the funds, Tilton said they were prepared in accordance with GAAP. But, a lawsuit from the investors - which is separate from the SEC's fraud case - says otherwise.

So, all of a sudden, Tilton's biggest deadline might not come from the courtroom, but from a creditor.