CanadianCoyote
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Tampa Bay Rays minority owners sue Sternberg, say he secretly negotiated Montreal deal
A group of minority owners of the Tampa Bay Rays have filed a lawsuit against Stuart Sternberg, the principal owner, alleging he has been engaged in a “relentless scheme” to take over control of the team and began secretly negotiating to sell an interest in the Rays to Montreal investors in 2014 — years before it was publicly disclosed.
The suit, which was filed Saturday in Pinellas County, accuses Sternberg of depriving the minority owners of their profits from the team while simultaneously requiring them to pay taxes on that would-be income.
That tactic squeezed out some partners, forcing them to sell their shares to Sternberg at a fraction of their value, the plaintiffs said. In January 2020, he transferred “the entire baseball club and franchise” to a new company under his sole management, without notifying the other partners, the lawsuit says.
