Chargers’ owner Dean Spanos is being sued by his sister, Dea Spanos Berberian, for alleged “misogynistic behavior and repeated breaches of fiduciary duty,” per ESPN NFL insiders Adam Schefter and Kimberly Martin.
The lawsuit was filed in California on Thursday and calls for Spanos to be removed as co-trustee.
Berberian is seeking sole control of a family trust that makes up more than one-third of the Chargers’ ownership. The lawsuit also seeks to award Berberian unspecified financial damages.
Spanos, Berberian and their siblings, Michael Spanos and Alexandra Spanos Ruhl, each own 15% of the Los Angeles franchise. Spanos and Berberian were left as co-trustees after the deaths of Alex and Faye Spanos in 2018, per ESPN.
Berberian accuses both of her brothers of using their “deeply-held misogynistic attitudes” to “rationalize their pitiable behavior which she believes is intended to teach her that a woman has no rights, no matter what any trust instrument might say,” the lawsuit reads.
The lawsuit also claims that both Dean and Michael “believe to their cores that, regardless of what their parents intended and their wills specified, men are in charge and women should shut up.”
As for the “breaches of fiduciary duty,” Berberian accused Spanos of “diverting $105 million from the trust to various debts” and manipulating the trust to borrow more than $60 million.
Alex Spanos bought the San Diego Chargers in 1984. Dean Spanos took over managing control of the franchise in 1994.