Jeanie Buss is opposing the reported sale of her family’s stake in the Lakers to Bob Iger and Joshua Kushner, arguing her siblings can’t legally execute a sale without her approval.
In a letter obtained by the California Post addressed to the lawyers representing her five other siblings in the Buss family trust (Jim, Johnny, Janie, Joey and Jesse) – Jeanie Buss’ lawyer, Adam Streisand, stated Jeanie didn’t agree to sell the team and that any vote of the Buss family selling would be “Void ab initio”.
She also filed paperwork to stop the sale with the Superior Court of Los Angeles Central District.
“No sale of the JAB Trust’s 17.8% ownership interest in the Los Angeles Lakers, Inc. can be effectuated without approval by the current co-trustees, i.e., Jeanie, Janie and Joey Buss,” Streisand said in the letter.
“Pursuant to the JAB Trust and the attached Court Order, the co-trustees are bound to vote the Los Angeles Lakers, Inc. shares to ensure that the minimum 15% ownership requirement is maintained in order to ensure that Jeanie Buss may remain Controlling Owner. Any attempt by the co-trustees to do otherwise, and any attempt to aid or abet the co-trustees as such, would constitute a breach of trust, breach of fiduciary duty and be in contempt of court.
The letter added: “On behalf of Jeanie Buss, I demand that your clients make clear publicly that Jeanie Buss is the Controlling Owner of the Los Angeles Lakers and that your clients shall take no action on this supposed “vote” to sell the 17.8% stake.
Mark Walter, who purchased the majority ownership of the Lakers from the Buss family last year for a valuation of $10 billion (which was a record for the sale of a U.S. sports franchise at the time) last week agreed to sell his stakes in the Lakers to Iger and Kushner at a historic valuation of $12.5 billion.
ESPN first reported Monday that the Buss siblings voted to sell the family’s remaining 17.8% ownership of the Lakers to Iger and Kushner.
The Buss family said said in a statement: “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. We love the Lakers, Laker fans and will continue to support Los Angeles; but it is time to use this opportunity to move on and exit gracefully while we still can.”
The Buss family trust, which includes six of Jerry Buss’ children — Johnny (69), Jim (66), Jeanie (64), Janie (62), Joey (41) and Jesse (37) — needed a majority vote (four out of six) to allow the trustees to sell the family’s shares.
ESPN reported Jeanie didn’t vote to sell the family’s ownership stake in the Lakers, while the other five siblings in the trust did.
Selling the Lakers would result in Jeanie no longer being the team’s Governor, since she would no longer have the qualifying 15% ownership stake in the franchise required told hold that position. She has been team’s Governor since 2013 after Jerry’s death.
When Walter purchased the majority ownership of the Lakers from the Buss family, the league announced that Buss would remain the team’s Governor for a period of at least five years (through 2030).
Iger told the California Post last week he and Kushner intended to honor the agreement made between Walter and Buss.
But on Monday, Jeanie’s attorney sent a letter to lawyers for the other siblings demanding that they retract the announcement of the proposed sale, insisting that rules of the family trust and a 2017 court ruling make clear that she will remain a controlling owner of the team for life.
The letter also called the announcement of a planned sale of the family’s stake in the Lakers, “just the latest instance of a years-long pattern whereby Joey and Jesse Buss leak false, defamatory and pernicious `information’…for the malicious purpose of doing harm to the Los Angeles Lakers so long as Dr. (Jerry) Buss’ chosen successor, Jeanie Buss, carries out her father’s wishes.”
Kushner and Iger are purchasing about 65% of the Lakers in their deal with Walter. The Buss family’s share of the Lakers would give Kushner and Iger about 83% of the franchise.
That sale needs to be approved by the NBA Board of Governors, which is scheduled to meet Sept. 15-16 in New York.
Kushner also must sell his minority ownership stake in the Heat before he can officially become the Lakers’ co-majority owner.