Embattled racist Donald Sterling withdraws agreement to sell LA Clippers, directs his attorneys to go forward with multI-billion dollar lawsuit against the NBA
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| Infamous LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling |
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| Rochelle Sterling and her estranged husband, embattled LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling, in happier times. |
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| Steve Ballmer |
| By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-n-chief, Cleveland Urban News. Com and The Cleveland Urban News.Com Blog, Ohio's Most Read Online Black Newspaper and Newspaper Blog, Tel: (216) 659-0473 |
Kathy Wray Coleman is a community activist and 20 year investigative journalist who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper. (www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)
LOS ANGELES, California —Embattled anti-Black LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling has called off a previous agreement for a sell of his NBA team for a reported $2 billion to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, his lawyers said this week.
The decision puts him at odds with his estranged wife, Rochelle, who had allegedly threatened to have him potentially institutionalized.
Rochelle Sterling, 80, also part owner of the Clippers, and who has laid claim to half of her husband's $1.8 billion financial empire, told reporters during the height of the controversy that she is not a racist. The deal she pushed required approval by the NBA Board of Governors and would be a record high behind the $550 million price tag for the Milwaukee Bucks.
According to Sterling's attorney Maxwell Bletcher, Sterling expected all fines to be disregarded and for his lifetime NBA ban to be lifted in order for the deal to be sealed.
Bletcher told reporters that Sterling had directed him to go forward with a multi-billion dollar lawsuit against the NBA.
Commissioner Adam Silver banned Sterling from the NBA for life in late April and fined the billionaire $2.5 million after racist comments surfaced publicly that were recorded by a girlfriend, V. Stivano. The punishment, which the NBA hoped will quell slated protests over the matter by some NBA players, is the harshest in NBA history.
The suspension bans Sterling from ever sitting court-side at an NBA game or attending any Clippers' practices. And he cannot set foot in any Clippers' facilities.
Sterling, 80, is the longest tenured owner of any of the 30 NBA teams and bought the Clippers in 1981 for a reported $12.5 million. He and his attorneys said just days before he originally agreed to give up the team that the punishment behind his racist rant was too harsh, that his rights and his company's rights had been violated, and that his contract had been breached.
of the team, which requires a 75 percent vote.
"The world will think certain things if you're seen with black people, so you should not be seen with them in public, and under no circumstances should you bring them to Clippers' games," Sterling tells his alleged mistress, the now infamous 10 min. audio recording reveals in part. He also made racially insensitive remarks about retired former LA Lakers ball player Magic Johnson, the recording also depicts.
(www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)
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