In a new lawsuit against his wife Shelly, the NBA and its commissioner, Sterling asks an injunction to block the L.A. Clippers potential sale to Steve Ballmer.
- Jul 23, 2014
AceShowbiz - Donald Sterling launched a lawsuit against his wife Shelly Sterling, the NBA and its commissioner Adam Silver in connection to the sale of the L.A. Clippers on Tuesday, July 22. In the suit, Sterling is asking an injunction to block the potential sale, saying that they defrauded him and violated corporate law.
"The new lawsuit states the seller of the team is not Donald, and it's not Shelly - the seller of the team is the corporation that owns the team, and that's LAC Basketball Club Inc. When Donald bought the team, the shares of the corporation are only in Donald's name. They were only issued to Donald, so Donald owns the shares of the corporation. He's the sole shareholder. He put the shares up into the trust in 1989, and when we revoked the trust, the shares go back down to him," said Sterling's attorney, Bobby Samini, as reported by ESPN.
Shelly Sterling's camp has responded to the new suit. "Donald's latest lawsuit is a frivolous, last ditch act of desperation by a delusional, bitter man. This action shows once more how obsessed he is with ruining a record-setting $2 billion sale of the Los Angeles Clippers - a sale that would solve the problems his racist rant started three months ago," said an attorney for Sterling's estranged wife, Pierce O'Donnell.
The legal drama started earlier this year when the 80-year-old businessman was caught in a racist scandal and was forced to sell the team. Shelly, who is a co-trustee of the Sterling Family Trust, removed him from the position after doctors said that he was mentally incapacitated and proceeded with the sale.
The new lawsuit was launched in the midst of a trial which would decide whether Shelly acted properly with the move to sell the team to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer for $2 billion. "He has no desire to destroy the team. He is fighting to protect his rights," Samini said outside the court after Tuesday's trial.
