Litigious racist Donald Sterling will reportedly hand over control of the L.A. Clippers to his wife Shelly, who will negotiate a sale as ordered. “She has no plans to sue the NBA,” one anonymous source told the AP, “she’s trying to make nice.” ESPN adds that while the league has not yet accepted the arrangement, “this could bring a startlingly quick end to what appeared to be a protracted legal battle.”
The NBA wants to make sure the Sterlings sell the team entirely, but there are still money concerns to be worked out:
Among the issues Shelly Sterling is considering, the source said, are the substantial tax obligations she would incur from the sale.
According to IRS rules, the Sterlings would have to pay a federal long-term capital-gains tax of 20 percent and a California tax of 13.3 percent. The tax would be on the difference between what the team was bought for and what it is ultimately sold for. If the team is sold for $1 billion, the Sterlings would be taxed $328.5 million on the sale.
But substantial progress has apparently been made since Donald’s latest batch of still-racist secret recordings, in which he said he’d fight the forced sale, and Shelly’s insistence that she wouldn’t give up that easily either. Along with ending this ordeal for everyone, let’s not forget, the Sterlings still stand to make piles of money.
