Sumner Redstone has “a new team of representatives acting on his behalf as he reorganizes his $40 billion media empire,”
a
New York Times
report noted.
Executives who have worked with Redstone for years don't know his new lawyer and new spokesman. Some are wondering whether these new lieutenants have even met with him and have suggested “that they are actually acting at the behest of his daughter, Shari Redstone,” the
Times
article said.
Proceedings are scheduled to begin in a lawsuit challenging Redstone's competency in a case that centers on the removal of Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman and director George Abrams from a trust that will control his companies after he dies or becomes incapacitated, the
Times
report noted.
John C. Coffee Jr., director of the Center on Corporate Governance at Columbia Law School, told the
Times
that the court must assess “what actions Mr. Redstone took to hire his legal team and instruct them to act on his behalf,” the
Times
article said.
Michael C. Tu, Redstone's new lawyer, “was unknown to Mr. Dauman, Mr. Abrams and Frederic V. Salerno, Viacom's lead independent director, who had all worked with Mr. Redstone for decades,” the article said. Court filings by Dauman and Abrams say Tu refused to answer a question about whether he had met Redstone, the article said. (Source:
New York Times
, June 6, 2016.)
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