Posted on 05/30/2014 1:38:59 AM PDT by iowamark
I imagine Donald Sterling is going to fight this one too, but…
Shelly Sterling has been granted the authority to sell the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers to Steve Ballmer because her husband and co-owner Donald Sterling has been declared mentally incapacitated under the terms of the trust the couple owns the team through. That made her the sole trustee and decision maker.
That according to the tapped in Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.
There have been reports and rumors that Donald Sterling has been battling dementia, which is the reason his former mistress claimed to make the recordings that sparked the controversy in the first place (he would forget what he had previously said). Donald also is reportedly battling prostate cancer.
Donald and Shelly Sterling each own half of the Clippers through a trust, although Donald is the recognized primary owner by the league under its constitution. However, a finding of mental incapacity would change the dynamic of control of the franchise.
NBC has confirmed that Shelly Sterling and former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer have signed papers where Ballmer will buy the Clippers from the trust for $2 billion (a record NBA price, almost four times the previous high). Those papers have been sent on to the league office for review.
The league has yet to comment on the latest reports. As of now there is an NBA Board of Governors’ meeting (the other owners) scheduled for June 3. At that meeting the owners would conduct a hearing then vote on whether to strip Sterling of his ownership of the franchise in response to the backlash that followed his prejudiced comments on a recording released to TMZ, plus later in a CNN interview.
Reports have suggested the league would postpone that meeting and vote if a sale agreement (with terms, a price and a new owner they liked) was in place before next Tuesday. Shelly Sterling and Ballmer are hoping this fits that criteria. For the league, a sale by the Sterlings is a much cleaner process.
Donald Sterling had publicly flip-flopped between saying, “Why would I want to fight my partners?” as he did on CNN and promising to “fight to the bloody end” in court as he did through his lawyer in an official response to the charges against him from the league.
However if he has been declared mentally incapacitated that would take him out of the picture. Under the terms of the trust he did not have to be declared incapacitated by a court of law, the structures are different, Shelburne reports.
We do not know how recently this incapacity was declared, under what circumstances, and how it would hold up to a legal challenge in court. It seems fair to assume that Donald Sterling’s first move would be to fight this ruling.
However if this holds up it seems as if the saga of the Sterlings could have a path to ending. Which is what everyone wants (except possibly Donald Sterling).
“Steve Ballmer and Shelly Sterling signed the final papers at her law firm just before midnight, according to a source close to the situation”
“The Sterling Family Trust had rules & guidelines about mental incapacitation. Very recently, Donald was found by experts to be incapacitated”
2 Billion Dollars..... wow. I guess all’s well that ends well....
Smells Like BIG Payoff.
http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/11003237/former-microsoft-executive-steve-ballmer-submits-winning-bid-buy-clippers-according-sources
“Ballmer, Sterling trust strike $2B deal”
We’ll get you 2 billion if you go away and not challenge anti-trust?
So if he is incapacitated does all this furor against him mean that it’s OK attack and steal from the addlepated?
Windows 9 will replace the “hour glass” normally shown when a program is thinking...... with a small picture of Griffin spinning a basket ball on his finger.
Good point, so now the dynamic is that the NBA, the estranged wife, and Balmer are victimizing a mentally challenged senior citizen.
2 billion dollars for an enterprise that was previously valued at 500 million....? I’m not sure “victimizing” fits there.
The price is great, but victimizing is if he doesn’t want to sell so he is declared incompetent to force the sale anyway based on a lynch mob atmosphere using a recorded private lovers’ quarrel conversation.
I think this was “how much will it take to get you to go away without challenging the NBA in court?” “Ummmmm... I’d take 2 billion.”
Wow that’s a lot of money for a NBA team. The Buffalo Bills are to be sold soon, let’s see if the NFL can attract that kind money.
So if he’s not mentally competent how can he be held responsible for his statements?
Multiple bidders reported when the price was believed to be in the $1B to $1.5B range, so a clear-the-decks offer of $2B from a guy who’s worth $20B doesn’t seem unreasonable.
Much better for the NBA than having Magic, who was somehow involved with Sterling’s mistress, and his team end up with it.
If he’s not mentally competent, his co-owner takes control.
And if she wants to sell, she can sell.
As to Sterling himself, I think it’s something like a mentally incapacitated AND guilty verdict—which always seems to make more sense to me than letting perpetrators off the hook because they’re a little unhinged.
Sterling will become the richest Alzheimer patient in the western world.
Had Sterling openly declared his intention to sell the team prior to all this drama, would there have been restrictions, costs, and the opportunity to get 2 billion?
If this current outcome could not have been matched earlier, then one has to wonder if Sterling has been intentionally driving all that’s been happening.
Then there's the sheriff who was overheard in a restaurant saying the "N" word.
Is this or isn't it America.
I think the early predictions were even higher than 2 bil
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