Andy Kohlberg

In a legal filing in Delaware State Court, Suns minority owners Andy Kohlberg and Scott Seldin allege that majority owner Mat Ishbia is using the team as his “personal piggy bank” and is hiding details about his spending, according to reports from Doug Haller and Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic and Baxter Holmes of ESPN.

It’s the latest development in a legal battle between the various Suns shareholders. Kohlberg and Seldin sued the Suns and Ishbia in August, with Ishbia filing a countersuit against the pair of minority owners in October. This legal filing is a response to Ishbia’s countersuit.

“Ishbia does not own the Suns to make money for the company but he does operate it as a personal fiefdom for his own personal gain and for the benefit of his other businesses, including his mortgage company United Wholesale Mortgage,” the latest filing states. “The reality is that Ishbia is using the Suns as his personal piggy bank, including through a lengthy list of conflicted transactions — only some of which the minority owners are aware of.”

As The Athletic and ESPN relay, the allegations Kohlberg and Seldin make against Ishbia in the filing include:

• Extending a loan to the Suns at an interest rate that was far above the going market rate.
• Selling naming rights to the Suns’ arena to his own mortgage company without disclosing the details.
• Leasing the Phoenix Mercury’s practice facility from himself without disclosing the details.
• Establishing an entity called the “Player 15 Group” that allegedly holds assets which should rightfully belong to the Suns.
• Turning the Suns and Mercury into money-losing teams while profiting through United Wholesale Mortgage.

Kohlberg and Seldin also specifically cite a pair of capital calls that took place in June and July of 2025, contending that Ishbia set up those capital calls in the hopes of diluting their shares in the team, which could have happened if they didn’t pay within a 10-day window. The two minority owners contributed the necessary capital in each case, but they say Ishbia didn’t pay his own shares by the deadline and attempted to hide it by using a debt-to-equity conversion to make up the difference.

According to Kohlberg and Seldin, they should have been given the opportunity to buy the shares Ishbia didn’t fund himself, which would have allowed them to take control of a larger stake in the franchise.

“In other words,” the filing states, “Ishbia blundered into the very trap he set for the minority owners and faced a devastating dilution of his ownership interest if his failure was discovered — a failure that would wipe off his net worth and put his continued status as an NBA team owner and governor in jeopardy.”

Ishbia, who has bought out the rest of the Suns’ minority owners since assuming majority control of the team in 2023, denied the allegations through a spokesperson.

“This isn’t a lawsuit; it’s a shameless shakedown dressed up as legal process,” Ishbia’s spokesperson said in a statement. “From day one, Mat Ishbia was transparent that he was going to do things differently. Contrary to how the team was previously managed, Mat made it very clear he would invest significantly into the Suns and Mercury. He told all the investors that they could step up with him or sell their stake and step aside. Kohlberg and Seldin stayed in and now they’re trying to freeload off the value Mat created.

“Kohlberg and Seldin want to drag the organization backward, and they openly admit in this filing that investing in the team and its fans ‘makes no business sense.’ They are advocating neglect. They are free to sell their shares in the open market and if they don’t, they should be prepared to lose this lawsuit and participate in Mat’s continued investments in the teams and community.”

Ishbia and his representatives have previously argued that his investments in the team have helped bump the value of the Suns from $4 billion to $6 billion since he took over as the majority owner. Ishbia said in the latest episode of The Draymond Green Show that Kohlberg and Seldin “can sell if they want” and should appreciate the fact that the franchise valuation is on the rise.

“I told them, ‘Instead of suing me, why don’t you just write me a letter and say thank you? Your investment is worth more,'” Ishbia said (Twitter video link).

Suns owner Mat Ishbia has filed a countersuit against a pair of minority owners who sued Ishbia and the team earlier this year, according to Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic.

That original suit, which was brought forth in August by Andy Kohlberg (Kisco WC Sports) and Scott Seldin (Kent Circle Investments), alleged that Ishbia wasn’t allowing them to view records and financial information that would help them understand how the franchise is being run and how much their shares are worth. Kohlberg and Seldin, expressing dissatisfaction with Ishbia’s management of the team, were reportedly seeking a buyout from the majority owner at a price point of $825MM, which would value the Suns at $6 billion.

Ishbia, who bought the Suns in 2023 at a valuation of $4 billion, offered to buy out the team’s minority owners when he took over control of the franchise and says that Kohlberg and Seldin were the only ones who passed on the offer.

Ishbia’s new suit states that he has invested significantly in the Suns and the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury since buying the team and sought funds on a capital call in June to “cover payroll, luxury tax payments and other near-term obligations,” per Vorkunov. The suit also alleges that Kohlberg and Seldin didn’t want to invest during that round of fundraising and that their lawsuit was part of a negative PR campaign against Ishbia as they sought a buyout from him at an “extortionate” cost.

“When Mat Ishbia bought the Suns and Mercury, he couldn’t have been clearer with investors: he was going to invest in the teams, the fans, and the community,” an Ishbia spokesperson said in a statement. “Every investor had the choice at that point — sell at premium or stay in and invest alongside him. Andy Kohlberg and Scott Seldin want it both ways. They don’t want to invest in the teams, but they are demanding a payday significantly higher than what Mat originally offered, which was still over 20 times their original investment. That’s not how it works, and we’re confident we’ll prevail in court.”

There has been no shortage of legal battles in Phoenix since Ishbia took over the team. Outside of this dispute between the team’s investors, several former employees have filed lawsuits against the Suns, alleging discrimination, harassment, and wrongful termination, per Vorkunov. Ishbia said at media day that he wasn’t looking to settle those suits.

“The truth is, you actually got to win a lawsuit,” he said. “And where I’m different than most successful people … is like, we don’t settle. If we don’t do anything wrong, I’m not paying someone. I hope you guys all report on how many lawsuits we actually lose.”

A pair of Suns minority shareholders – Andy Kohlberg of Kisco WC Sports and Scott Seldin of Kent Circle Investments – have sued the team in a Delaware Chancery Court, reports Michael McCann of Sportico. The minority owners say in their complaint that they’re “dissatisfied” with the way Suns Capital Group LLC (Mat Ishbia‘s group) has managed the team.

As McCann details, Kisco and Kent Circle claim they haven’t been allowed to view records and financial information that would help them understand how the franchise is being run and how much their shares are worth. They’re demanding a court order that would allow them to look into alleged “potential breaches of a limited liability company agreement, mismanagement of the team and conflicts of interest,” McCainn writes.

According to Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports, when Ishbia took over as the Suns’ controlling owner in 2023, he gave the team’s 16 limited partners the opportunity to sell their stakes in the team at the same $4 billion valuation that applied to his majority stake. Fourteen of the 16 partners took that buyout offer, with Kisco and Kent Circle representing the only two holdouts.

Kisco has since sought a buyout from Ishbia’s group; there are conflicting reports on whether Kent Circle has done the same. Bourguet’s report suggests both minority stakeholders have looked to be bought out, while McCann says Kent Circle hasn’t done so but has expressed “growing concerns” about management.

The price that Kisco and Kent Circle are demanding from Suns Capital Group LLC to buy them out is based on a valuation in excess of $6 billion, according to Bourguet. The complaint, per McCann, alleges that Ishbia’s LLC didn’t respond in good faith to Kisco’s efforts to divest its shares by June 1 and instead issued a capital call for June 2 with “no advance notice.” The per-unit valuation conveyed on that call was “strikingly low and bears no relationship to the actual value of the company which is worth billions,” according to the plaintiffs.

In a letter to Kisco and Kent Circle, Suns Capital Group LLC indicated it has no objections to the minority partners finding another buyer for their shares, per Bourguet. However, the majority ownership groups insists that the minority stakeholders have no right to demand Ishbia’s LLC be the one to buy them out at a significantly higher valuation than the 2023 price.

Kisco and Kent Circle, meanwhile, argue in their complaint that the majority ownership group has been putting pressure on and diluting the team’s minority owners, citing “mismanagement and lack of transparency.”

According to Bourguet, the plaintiffs suspect Ishbia’s group of entering into undisclosed side deals and also raised questions about the funding of a practice facility for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury. As McCann writes, the complaint states that facility was “seemingly paid for using” team funds but that the minority stakeholders were “provided virtually no information” about how it was funded or the process used to determine its funding.

Attorneys for Suns Capital Group LLC will have the opportunity to respond to the complaint, McCann notes.