The two most important minority shareholders of Phoenix Suns they accuse the owner Mat Ishbia to use the team as a “personal piggy bank”
The intertwining of economic interest and sporting competition is the perfect scheme on which the NBA is based. This system, however, sometimes jams unexpectedly. An example could be the case of the Phoenix Suns, one of the best teams in the Western Conference compared to expectations at the beginning of the season. The minority owners of the Suns Andy Kohlberg e Scott Seldinin fact, they accused the majority owner, Mat Ishbiato use the team as his “personal piggy bank”. The reason is easy to understand: according to the two owners, Ishbia is hiding the details of some expenses for the benefit of other activities.
The internal legal battle at the Phoenix Suns
“Ishbia does not own the Suns to make money for the company, but operates them as a personal fiefdom for his own gain and for the benefit of his other businesses, including his mortgage company United Wholesale Mortgage.”we read in the latest instance of one legal battle who knows no respite. Already in August the two minority shareholders had sued the Suns and the owner himself who, in turn, had filed a countersuit to defend himself. Hence the latest legal attack by Kohlberg and Seldin who, in a legal document filed in Delaware State Court, claim the owner is using the team as his personal piggy bank.
Shareholders’ accusations against the owner
The shareholders’ accusations are as precise as they are potentially serious. You go from giving the Suns a loan at an interest rate much higher than the going rate to selling the naming rights to the Suns’ arena to your mortgage company. But not only that. Kohlberg and Seldin also specifically cite a pair of capital calls that occurred in June and July of 2025. Two dues that the two owners would have paid by the due date, unlike Ishbia who, according to their reasoning, would have tried to cover up the matter. “Ishbia fell into the trap he had set for minority owners and risked a devastating dilution of his shareholding if his failure were discovered, a failure that would have wiped out his net worth and jeopardized his status as an NBA team owner and governor,” we read in the document.
Owner Mat Ishbia’s response
The response from the majority owner of the Suns, obviously, did not take long to arrive. Through his spokesperson, Ishbia made it known that, in his opinion, it is “a shameful extortion disguised as a legal proceeding.” The spokesperson’s piqued reply put the wishes of the two minority shareholders in the crosshairs: “Kohlberg and Seldin want to drag the organization back and openly admit in this document that investing in the team and its fans ‘does not make business sense’. They are advocating abandonment.” There is a touch of pride with which the spokesperson points out that the investments of the new majority owner of the Suns have contributed to increasing the value of the Suns from 4 to 6 billion dollars.
