Mat Ishbia accused of using Suns as 'personal piggy bank' in latest legal filing from minority owners

Mat Ishbia’s legal battle within the Phoenix Suns ownership group isn’t going away.

Two minority owners of the NBA franchise responded to a countersuit filed by Ishbia against them in a Delaware court last week, which was made public on Monday and obtained by ESPN. The two men, Scott Seldin and Andy Kohlberg, had filed a lawsuit against Ishbia in August.

Among other things, Seldin and Kohlberg accused Ishbia of using the Suns as his own “personal piggy bank.”

"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 said, via ESPN. "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."

Seldin and Kohlberg said that Ishbia has refused access to the team’s internal records, and that he extended a loan to the Suns at an interest rate far above market value. Ishbia allegedly sold the naming rights to the team’s arena to his mortgage company without disclosing details of the arrangement to them, and that he leased the team’s practice facility from himself at an undisclosed rate. Ishbia also allegedly created a new entity that holds assets that actually belong to the Suns.

Ishbia purchased the Suns at a $4 billion valuation in 2023 from former owner Robert Sarver. He then bought out 14 of the 16 minority partners from the team’s previous ownership group, though Kohlberg and Seldin did not sell their stake in the team. The two men said that the Suns, along with the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, have been operating at a loss since Ishbia purchased them.

"Ishbia has spent wildly on player and coach contracts, incurred massive tax penalties from the NBA, and built himself an expensive clubhouse to hold court and hand out favors to his guests — with his co-owners footing their share of the bill," the filing said. "At the same time, Ishbia has mortgaged the Suns' future by trading away valuable draft picks for years to come and has knowingly foregone significant revenue opportunities, purportedly in the service of his 'focus on winning and success' and the Suns' fan experience."

Ishbia has once again denied the allegations against him.

"This isn't a lawsuit; it's a shameless shakedown dressed up as legal process," A spokesperson for Ishbia told ESPN. "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 also addressed the lawsuit on The Draymond Green show, and said that the two should actually be thanking him.

“And by the way, since I bought the team at $4 billion, it’s worth, what, $6 billion now? It’s gone up,” he said. “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.”

The lawsuit from Seldin and Kohlberg is the seventh that has been filed against the Suns since November 2024. The team has also been hit with discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination and other allegations in those lawsuits, which the Suns have denied.

The Suns currently sit at 11-6 on the season, and have won eight of their last nine, under first-year head coach Jordan Ott. They’ll take on the Houston Rockets next on Monday night.