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Phoenix Suns majority owner Mat Ishbia — who is also the president and CEO of United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) — has filed a countersuit against minority owners Scott Seldin and Andy Kohlberg, accusing them of trying to force him to buy their shares “at an exorbitant premium.”
The countersuit, filed Tuesday in Delaware state court, follows an August lawsuit from Kisco WC Sports II, owned by Kohlberg, and Kent Circle Investments, owned by Seldin, who had minority stakes under former Suns majority owner Robert Sarver. Each alleged that Ishbia refused to grant them access to team records.
The complaint, which was brought by Suns Legacy Holdings LLC — the parent company that owns the Suns and the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury — and Suns Capital Group LLC, the team’s management entity controlled by Ishbia, accuses Seldin and Kohlberg of trying to force an “exorbitant” buyout after refusing to contribute additional funds to the franchise.
According to the filing, Ishbia paid a record price for his majority stake, valuing the two franchises at roughly $4 billion. He later offered all limited partners the option to sell their shares at the same high valuation, which was nearly 20 times their original investments.
The deal valued the franchises at $4 billion and marked their first ownership change in nearly two decades. It was announced in December 2022 and approved by the NBA two months later.
Kisco and Kent were the only two minority owners who retained their stakes.
The dispute centers on a June 2025 capital call, which asked investors to put in more money for team expenses. Kisco and Kent refused, accusing Ishbia of pressuring them into selling their shares and demanding a buyout “at an exorbitant premium.”
After the Suns rejected these demands, the minority owners sued to access records and launched what the team’s filing calls a “negative publicity campaign.”
The Suns are asking the court to confirm the capital call was handled properly and accuse the investors of trying to force an inflated buyout.
“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. Every investor had the choice at that point — sell at [a] premium or stay in and invest alongside him,” a spokesperson for Ishbia said.
The spokesperson continued, “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 20x their original investment. That’s not how it works, and we’re confident we’ll prevail in court.”
Michael Carlinsky, Quinn Emanuel counsel for the minority partners, also shared a statement:
“Mr. Ishbia’s so called ‘declaratory judgment lawsuit’ is nothing more than a thinly-disguised effort to thwart our clients’ books and records litigation through delay; it doesn’t actually “sue” anyone. That said, we intend to add our full set of counterclaims for damages arising out of Mr. Ishbia’s gross mismanagement and dereliction of duties and will obtain the evidence that he has been fighting to keep from us.”
