Los Angeles Lakers controlling owner Jeanie Buss is challenging the legality of her five siblings’ vote last week to sell the family’s remaining shares in the franchise, arguing in a petition filed Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court that it is in the best interest of the family trust to “retain an interest sufficient to maintain control and to benefit from the continuously skyrocketing value.”
Buss also is seeking to remove her siblings Janie and Joey as co-trustees of the family trust for breaching their fiduciary duty and noted that Lakers minority owners Dr. Patrick Soon Shiong and Ed Roski have joined her in the decision to retain a stake in the franchise.
Buss’ lawyer Adam Streisand sent a letter last week to lawyers for her five siblings after ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that they had voted to tag along to majority owner Mark Walter’s sale to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger at a $12.5 billion valuation. The others contend they needed only four of the six siblings and two of the three co-trustees to vote to sell the shares, held by the trust, as part of tag-along rights given to the family in its sale of majority ownership to Walter last year.
In the letter last week and Wednesday’s filing,
In the letter last week and Wednesday’s filing, Streisand called that vote “devious behavior” that was “orchestrated as part of a calculated effort to create a public fait accompli before Jeanie could respond.”
The filing also says Joey Buss signed his vote to sell the family shares in the Lakers one day before ESPN reported that Walter had reached an agreement with Kushner and Iger, and that Walter has not officially sent notice of his agreement to sell, meaning that the tag-along rights are not yet applicable.
“In the immortal words of Yogi Berra, ‘It’s like déjà vu all over again,'” Wednesday’s court filing begins. “Jeanie comes now, unfortunately having once again been forced to seek relief to enforce her parents’ intent and the clear, unequivocal and immutable terms of [the family trust] and this Court’s [2017] Order on Petition for Instructions to Co-Trustees Concerning Appointment of Controlling Owner of the Los Angeles Lakers.”
The 2017 court order resolved a takeover attempt
The 2017 court order resolved a takeover attempt by older brothers Johnny and Jim Buss to remove Jeanie Buss as head of the board of directors that controls the family trust. Afterward, Joey and Janie Buss were named co-trustees, along with Jeanie Buss, and instructed by the court to vote to ensure Jeanie Buss remained as the controlling owner of the team.
“Janie and Joey have now brazenly, knowingly and intentionally violated the 2017 Order by secretly signing a purported resolution — void on its face — to sell a portion of [family trust] the Lakers,” Wednesday’s filing alleges. “Most important, the Resolution offends the testamentary intent and very legacy that Dr. Buss and Jo Ann entrusted the Buss siblings to protect.”
Wednesday’s filing also contends that Jeanie Buss was “blindsided by an alleged statement of the ‘family’ ‘We have decided as a family to sell the remaining Buss Family Trust shares to the Bob Iger group as part of the ongoing transaction….’ That alleged ‘family’ statement was knowingly false: Jeanie never agreed to any sale, was never consulted, and was never even informed.”
After Streisand’s letter last week, the five siblings
After Streisand’s letter last week, the five siblings issued a second statement to Charania, declaring their intent to move forward with the sale: “Johnny, Jimmy, Janie, Joey and Jesse have made the decision to sell the family’s remaining stake, and we remain united in that decision. We intend to move forward thoughtfully, respectfully and through the appropriate process.”
Wednesday’s filing also disputes a report from ESPN’s Dave McMenamin that Lakers vice president of finance Joe McCormack called an emergency meeting of the Buss siblings.
“In truth there was no emergency meeting, indeed, there was no meeting at all,” the filing contends. “Any suggestion that Jeanie concealed details about the potential Walter sale is false.”
“Jeanie thought she had put all of her siblings’ scheming and manipulations behind her in 2017,” the filing states. “Sadly, that was not the case — and Jeanie must respectfully request relief from this Court a second time.”
Source: www.espn.com
