The four children of Hank Greenspun are battling in court over the future over the newspaper he founded, the
Las Vegas Sun,
according to
a report in
Tablet,
an online magazine focusing on Jewish news and culture.
The suit filed by the eldest child, Brian Greenspun, the
Sun’
s editor and publisher, seeks a temporary restraining order on a deal made by his siblings — Janie Greenspun Gale, Susan Fine and Danny Greenspun — with the publisher of the rival
Las Vegas Review-Journal
that would shut down the
Sun
on Sept. 1, the article said.
Hank Greenspun was once a publicist who promoted mobster Bugsy Siegel’s Flamingo Hotel. In 1950, the year he founded the
Sun,
he was convicted of violating the Neutrality Act and fined $10,000 for running guns to Zionist fighters in Palestine; he was later pardoned by President Kennedy. President Nixon’s “plumbers” targeted a safe owned by Greenspun, believing it to hold incriminating documents, the
Tablet
report noted.
Five years ago, all four siblings participated in a documentary about their father. Their feud started after their mother died in 2010. Danny and Susan “had long wanted to shut down the
Sun
” because of the tough competitive environment in the industry, the article said. The family’s fortune comes from their father’s real estate dealings and a cable TV franchise that the family sold to Cox Communications in 1998.
The three younger siblings voted on Aug. 7 to end the
Sun
‘s joint operating agreement (JOA) with the
Review-Journal
in exchange for ownership of the lasvegas.com domain, through which their family’s holding company sells travel bookings and show tickets,
Tablet
reported. Brian Greenspun contends that Stephens Media, owner of the
Review-Journal,
can’t legally sever the JOA, which the
Tablet
report called “the only thing keeping the [
Sun
] afloat.”
The
Review-Journal
is conservative, while the
Sun
is a liberal-leaning publication. Under the JOA, originally made with the
Review-Journal
‘s previous owners, the papers combined business offices and print and delivery personnel but maintained separate newsrooms and editorial boards. As part of the agreement, the
Sun
became an afternoon paper, which hurt its circulation. The JOA was amended in 2005 and the
Sun
changed to an eight-page publication delivered with the
Review-Journal.
While his siblings had little interest in the paper, the
Sun
“was a passion project for Brian,” the article said. Their differences escalated in the 2009 recession, when the value of the family’s real estate and casino holdings dropped. That year the
Sun
won a Pulitzer Prize, but Brian and his wife were the only family members to attend the ceremony, according to the report.
Earlier this year, Susan sued Brian to collect on repayment of a $2 million loan; the case was settled,
Tablet
reported. Now Brian is suing to obtain a temporary restraining order on suspension of the JOA. The
Tablet
article said he is reportedly seeking to take on other investors and buy out his siblings. (Source:
Tablet,
Aug. 26, 2013.)
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