The Buss family’s attempt to sell its remaining 17.8% stake in the Los Angeles Lakers has hit a snag. Despite reporting that all six Buss siblings had agreed to sell their shares in the team, there is one that is reportedly contesting the sale: Jeanie Buss, the eldest Buss daughter and the CEO and governor of the team.
In a letter obtained by multiple outlets, Buss’ lawyer Adam Streisand wrote that she was opposed to selling the team, and that “any ‘vote’ by any of the Buss siblings would be and is void” given that it would violate requirements of the Buss’s trust, which owns the shares of the Lakers.
A statement attributed to the Buss family earlier on Monday indicated that they had decided to sell the remaining minority ownership of the team to Bob Iger and Josh Kushner as part of the larger sale of the team. A group led by Iger and Kushner agreed to purchase the team from Mark Walter last week, just one year after Walter bought the majority stake from the Buss family.
In the letter, which was posted in full by CNBC, Streisand wrote to three law firms representing Jeanie’s siblings — Jim, Johnny, Janie, Joey and Jesse — and urged them to walk back the deal.
Streisand accused ESPN’s Shams Charania of “falsely” reporting that all six of the Buss siblings had voted to sell the stake, and accused Joey and Jesse Buss of “leak(ing) false, defamatory and pernicious ‘information’” to Charania “for the malicious purpose of doing harm” to the Lakers’ organization.
Per Streisand, the vote would conflict with requirements of the trust set up by family matriarch JoAnn Buss to keep Jeanie as controlling owner of the team on an annual basis. Under those requirements, per Streisand, the family trust must maintain 15% ownership to keep Jeanie as controlling owner.
“No sale … can be effectuated without approval by the current co-trustees, i.e., Jeanie, Janie and Joey Buss,” Streisand wrote. “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.”
This story will be updated.