Sports
As Trial Nears, Donald Sterling Fighting From Behind
Nov. 7, 2012 file photo, Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File)
LOS ANGELES (Forbes) — That much-ballyhooed $2 billion sale of the Los Angeles Clippers to Steve Ballmer still isn’t a done deal.
NBA execs expressed confidence back in April that they had a strong case to force a sale by Donald Sterling based on recorded racist remarks he made to his girlfriend, remarks that allegedly violated a morals clause in the league’s by-laws. But the whole saga has taken a different course since then, away from action by the NBA and toward a battle between Sterling and his wife Shelly for control of the family trust that owns the Clippers.
Shelly managed to convince Donald to agree to an examination by a pair of doctors, whose findings claimed Donald to be mentally incapacitated, leaving Shelly in control to negotiate the sale to Ballmer. Donald, though, is challenging the findings – his lawyers claiming incomplete testing and exaggerated results.
###
