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 noted that Lakers minority owners Dr. Patrick Soon Shiong and Ed Roski have joined her in that decision to retain a stake in the franchise.
Buss' lawyer 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 need only four of the six siblings and two of the three co-trustees to vote to sell the remaining shares, held by a family trust.
In the letter last week and Wednesday filing, Jeanie Buss' lawyer Adam 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 notes that 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.