Jeanie Buss reportedly opposes the sale of the Lakers to Bob Iger and Josh Kushner, adding that her siblings cannot sell their stake without her approval.
In a letter addressed to the lawyers representing the five other siblings in the Buss family trust, obtained by the California Post on Monday, attorney Adam Streisand, lawyer for Jeanie Buss, said that Jeanie never agreed to sell the team and that a vote by the siblings to sell would be “Void ab initio.”
“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 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.”
Multiple sources confirmed to ESPN last week that Bob Iger and Josh Kushner, who both participated in the Las Vegas expansion, pitched “an aggressive offer to buy the Lakers from Mark Walter, who purchased a controlling interest in the team from the Buss family last year for a then-record franchise valuation of approximately $10 billion.”
“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,” noted the California Post. “That sale needs to be approved by the NBA Board of Governors, which is scheduled to meet Sept. 15-16 in New York.”