Los Angeles Lakers governor Jeanie Buss accused her siblings of running a "cloak and dagger" smear campaign against her through the media and voting to sell the family's remaining shares in the team in court documents filed earlier this week.
The filing, obtained by USA TODAY Sports, alleges that Jeanie Buss' five siblings -- Jimmy, Johnny, Janie, Joey and Jesse -- orchestrated a "manipulative plot" in response to her previous court filing in August to halt the proposed sale of the family's remaining 17.8% share in the team following the record $12.5 billion sale between Mark Walter and Josh Kushner and Bob Iger, "secretly pursued unlawful action behind Jeanie's back" and allegedly leaking their "petty grievances" to ESPN's Shams Charania.
"Respondents
respond casting themselves as victims," the filing says. "When in reality, the entire episode is their own false flag operation."
The filing is the latest development in the ongoing Succession-esque drama that has ensued over the years since Dr. Jerry Buss' death in 2013 and escalated when Jeanie Buss' siblings voted 5-0 to sell their stake in the Lakers to Kushner, which would effectively remove her as governor. That led to an injunction from Adam F. Streisand, Jeanie Buss' attorney, that contested the sale violated a 2017 court order that established Jeanie Buss as the controlling owner and was null and void.
The five siblings filed a formal opposition on Oct. 7, claiming Jeanie Buss' petition "is legally and factually baseless." A hearing is scheduled in Los Angeles Superior Court on Dec. 8.
"Jeanie sought to address Respondents’ desire to cash out of the Buss/Lakers’ legacy," Streisand says in the filing. "However, Respondents refused to engage, because they not only want to cash out of that legacy but cannot abide that the team’s owners would still want Jeanie to be part of the Lakers’ future. Jeanie had no choice but to seek court intervention to enforce the clear terms of the Trust and this Court’s 2017 Order."
Per NBA rules, Jeanie Buss would need to hold at least a 15% ownership stake in the Lakers to continue serving as governor. The siblings have defended their sale as being within their rights by invoking a tag-along provision that was included in the original sale to Mark Walter that would allow the Buss family to sell their shares if he were to ever sell the team, but Jeanie Buss' attorneys responded in Wednesday's filing that the tag-along right is for less than all of the trust's shares.
The filing continues by alleging no notice of the tag-along right was given, nor was a notice of a "put right" that would have enabled the siblings to sell the family's entire stake in the team, and that there is no offer from Kushner and Iger to purchase the trust's shares.
"Consent to a hypothetical, partial sale is not the full and final sale required to trigger termination under Section 2.4(c)," the filing said. "Thus, the Purported Resolution is void on its face."
ESPN reported on Friday that Kushner and Walter agreed to final terms of the sale of the franchise and are expected to sign a formal agreement soon. The deal would then need to be reviewed by the NBA and approved by a majority vote of the league's 30 team owners.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jeanie Buss alleges 'cloak and dagger' plot by siblings over Lakers sale
