The Lakers ownership fight now has a specific legal pressure point: the JAB Trust.
Attorney Adam Streisand, writing for Jeanie Buss, argues that the trust's 17.8% interest in the Lakers cannot be sold unless all current co-trustees approve it. That group is Jeanie, Janie and Joey Buss. The letter says the co-trustees are bound by the JAB Trust and a court order to vote the Lakers shares in a way that preserves the minimum 15% ownership requirement needed for Jeanie Buss to remain the team's controlling owner.
Streisand's warning goes further than simple disagreement. He wrote that any attempt by the co-trustees to act otherwise, or for others to help them do so, would amount to breach of trust, breach of fiduciary duty and contempt of court.
That is why the reported 17.8% sale is not just a family vote story. If Jeanie's reading holds, the deal needs consent from the trust structure itself. Until that is settled, Bob Iger and Joshua Kushner's path to adding the Buss family's remaining Lakers stake remains contested.
No comments yet. Start the conversation.