Ice Cube is seeking $1.2B in damages, and alleges being swindled by the Qatari investorsGetty Images
The Big3 has filed a lawsuit that alleges foreign investors "withheld millions of dollars in an attempt to push out" the Big3 founders, which includes Ice Cube, and "take over the league," according to Rick Maese of the WASHINGTON POST. Big3 co-Founders Ice Cube and Jeff Kwatinetz "are seeking" $1.2B in damages, and "allege they were swindled by the foreign investors, including the Qatar emir's half brother, Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Saud Al Thani, who is the CEO of the Qatar Investment Authority." A spokesperson for the investment group, called Sport Trinity, called the lawsuit a "blatantly false and malicious fabrication." Ice Cube said, "We're going to tell the world what you tried to do. We ain't no punks. They thought we was just this rapper an this rock guy: 'We could do 'em.' Get your [butt] out of here." Maese notes the lawsuit "alleges the months-long saga cost the league millions of dollars, their first-year commissioner [Roger Mason Jr.], whom the league fired in part because of his relationship with the investment group, and plenty of headaches and stress that cast a cloud over the league's finances." The 33-page complaint filed in L.A County Superior Court "alleges a duplicitous scheme in which the Qatari group paid only a portion of its agreed-upon investment and withheld the rest of the money to create leverage, all with the goal of fracturing the league leadership and eventually muscling its way into a controlling interest." Ice Cube: "We just trying to do basketball, man. We're not trying to be caught up in no international bull----" (WASHINGTON POST, 4/6).
