-
Baxter Holmes
A less-redacted legal document in a lawsuit against Mat Ishbia has introduced new financial insights that two minority owners of the Phoenix Suns assert may jeopardize Ishbia’s majority stake in the franchise.
This document, a copy of which was acquired by ESPN on Tuesday, originates from a lawsuit initiated on November 24 in Delaware State Court by attorneys representing Scott Seldin and Andy Kohlberg, two minority stakeholders of the Suns. Ishbia’s representative stated that the document presents «nothing new» and that its allegations are «absurd.»
The lawsuit filed against Ishbia accuses him of financial impropriety, including treating the team as a «personal cash reserve.» Ishbia, who purchased the Suns in 2023, has refuted these claims.
The disputes between the Suns minority owners and Ishbia date back to September 2024, when Kohlberg commenced talks about a buyout with an advisor to Ishbia. Seldin, in contrast, did not pursue a buyout. Kohlberg’s negotiations persisted into 2025, and he sought a reply from Ishbia by June 1.
The following day, Ishbia initiated a $250 million capital call raise — a process wherein investors are requested to fulfill their financial obligations — and «threatened the minority owners with a punitive dilution of their ownership stakes» if they did not contribute by June 12, as per the new filing. As part of this capital raise, additional ownership units would be made available at $10 million per unit — a price that Seldin and Kohlberg argue was substantially lower than the valuation three months earlier, when Ishbia purchased units from minority owners at $198 million per unit.
Under duress, the two minority owners claim, they fulfilled their share of the capital call raise.
The filing mentions that Ishbia remarked the capital call raise was not fully funded and organized another capital call raise on July 8, with another 10-day deadline.
Once more, Seldin and Kohlberg assert, they contributed their share under protest.
Involving the Phoenix Mercury with approximately a 60% stake.
«There is nothing new here, and the claims are absurd,» a spokesperson for Ishbia stated in a press release Tuesday. «Unwilling to take accountability and invest in the team, these individuals are turning to threats and publicity tactics to pressure Mat into buying them out so they can profit more.»
Seldin and Kohlberg are remnants from the previous ownership group led by Robert Sarver. In 2023, Ishbia acquired a 57% controlling stake for $2.28 billion, as reported by ESPN at that time, with the contentious Sarver selling his 37% stake for $1.48 billion. At the time of the transaction, 14 of the 16 members in the Suns’ ownership group accepted Ishbia’s buyout proposal at a $4 billion valuation.
Kohlberg and Seldin were the sole two who did not sell.
Ishbia filed a countersuit against the two minority owners in October, alleging they pressured him to purchase their ownership stakes «at an exorbitant premium.»
ESPN had earlier reported that the Suns dispatched a letter in August to Kohlberg and Seldin, in which the team indicated that the two men demanded that the franchise buy their ownership stakes for $825 million, a valuation that would elevate the team’s worth to about $6 billion — a 60% increase from the valuation when Ishbia acquired his controlling interest in 2023.
The Suns stated in the letter, which ESPN obtained, that they are not obligated to buy out Seldin and Kohlberg.
The most recent lawsuit from Seldin and Kohlberg marks the seventh against the Suns since November 2024. Additional lawsuits have been filed by current and former employees. Some of their accusations involve discrimination, retaliation, harassment, and wrongful termination.
