ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Rays called a lawsuit filed against owner Stuart Sternberg "baseless" and made up of false allegations in a statement Friday.
"The allegation that a simple and commonplace corporate reorganization stripped the limited partners of the value of their investments and their rights and protections is patently false, and the limited partners know that," the statement read.
The lawsuit was filed in late June in a Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court by a group of five that makes up about 9.6 percent of the team's ownership. It claims that Sternberg, without communicating to partners, fraudulently transferred the franchise to Rays Baseball Club at the start of 2020.
Under the partnership agreement, this group of minority owners claim to have the right to be informed of the partnership's tax and financial status. They also claim the right to be alerted to any amendments to the partnership agreement.
The partners suing Sternberg are Robert Kleinert, Markel Gary, the MacDougald Family Limited Partnership, Stephen M. Waters, and a trust in Waters' name.
Rays Baseball Club, which is controlled by Sternberg, now manages and operates the Rays franchise and team, the lawsuit claims.
"Sternberg reported that the huge investment return to the Partnership would result in additional taxable income of the partners but that he would not be making any distributions," the minority partners' lawsuit read.
The suit claims that Sternberg did not share that $376 million...
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