The Suns and team majority owner Mat Ishbia are facing new legal issues after a pair of minority owners who came over from the previous ownership group have alleged that they were refused access to internal records, according to a new lawsuit.
The suit was filed in Delaware last week, and a redacted copy of the legal filing was made available on Wednesday. It alleges that during a capital call in June, Ishbia attempted to “exert pressure on and dilute” the shares of the Suns’ minority owners, Andy Kohlberg and Scott Seldin.
They also allege that they have not been able to obtain information about team expenditures and funding for the WNBA’s Mercury’s new $100 million practice facility, which was announced last year.
“Our clients sued to obtain records to which they are entitled as minority owners of the Suns,” Michael Carlinsky and Michael Barlow of Quinn Emanuel, who are representing the two minority owners, said in a statement to ESPN. “They are concerned by the manager’s approach towards minority owners, and want more information about certain spending and capital raises in which the manager has engaged. Transparency with minority owners is not optional, and our clients think it is critical to the success of the Suns.”
The lawyers involved in the case are listed as representing Kisco WC Sports II and Kent Circle Investments. Kohlberg is the founder, president and CEO of Kisco Senior Living. Seldin is the president of Kent Circle Partners.
The two men were the only two of 16 minority partners who did not accept a buyout from Ishbia when he took over the team in 2023.
The lawsuit stated that in September of last year, Kohlberg began negotiations for a buyout of his stake with an Ishbia advisor, and as talks went into this year, he was given a final response date of June 1.
When Ishbia held a capital call the following day, that’s when they allege the Suns owner tried to exert pressure.
It’s also alleged that Ishbia “may have entered into undisclosed side deals with other members of the [Suns], including side deals, relating to the capital call.”
This marks the sixth lawsuit against the Suns — the previous five had been by current or former employees.
In a letter to Kohlberg and Seldin’s attorneys, lawyers for the Suns said that the two “resorted to threatening baseless litigation and sensationalized press coverage as a means of intimidating and coercing [Ishbia] into unprincipled and unjustified buyout negotiations.”
