Lawsuits, Family wars and distribution of Kobe Bryant’s Millionaire inheritance

Death of Kobe Bryant last Jan 26, 2020 caused a real earthquake in the world of the NBA that saw how one of the greatest figures in its history lose your life unexpectedly in a helicopter crash in which he also failed his daughter Gianna and the other seven crew members of the aircraft.

A tragedy that caused a wave of reactions around the world. Anonymous fans and personalities from all walks of social life joined in on to show their admiration for the figure of Kobe and dismay at his loss. However, in this first year since the accident, misfortune has been clouded by controversy in many moments.

The first had to do with investigation of the helicopter collision in Calabasas, California. Vanessa Bryant, the former player’s widow, led a class action lawsuit with the rest of the victims’ relatives contra Express Helicopters & Island Express Holding Corp, the company that owned the helicopter in which Kobe and his daughter were traveling. According to Vanessa Bryant, the pilot Ara Zobayan “was negligent in not using ordinary attention when piloting the ship”. A first lawsuit for which Bryant seeks compensation “for economic damages, non-economic damages, prejudice interests, punitive damages and other remedies that the Court considers fair and appropriate.

The second polemic originated from Photographs taken at the scene of the accident by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office . Some images that the police took for personal use and that ended with the emotional resistance of a Vanessa Bryant who confessed “devastated” for what happened. The department led by sheriff Lex Villanueva recognized some facts for which he has been denounced by the widow of the former Lakers player. In the lawsuit Bryant speaks of moral distress and emotional stress after “At least eight sheriff’s deputies will take mobile photos of the deceased children, parents and coaches.”

“Mrs. Bryant has suffered an immense tragedy in losing her husband and daughter; her grief has been compounded by severe emotional distress caused by the misconduct of sheriff deputies and the mismanagement of the Sheriff’s Department. She is deeply concerned that not all copies of the photos have been taken into account and that it is only a matter of time before she or her daughters find them on the Internet,” said the statement from the family lawyer.

A few days after the burial of the NBA legend a man tried to desecrate the escort’s grave at Pacific View Memorial Park de California, where he is buried with his daughter. The individual was arrested shortly after uprooting the flowers that surrounded the tombstone and beginning to dig to try to reach the corpses.

The millionaire inheritance left by the five-time NBA champion, estimated at more than 550 million dollarshas also made rivers of ink flow. Vanessa Bryant and Kobe Bryant’s manager Rob Pelinka, both front men of the former player’s last will, have presented a formal request in court to modify Kobe’s will and include the Bryant’s youngest daughter, Capri.

The former bodyguard made his will in 2003 in order to protect his wife, Vanessa, and their offspring. A document that he modified several times to include his daughters, but had not yet done the same with his youngest daughter, who was born in June 2019.

The last controversial episode around the figure of Kobe and his legacy has had to do with Vanessa and her mother, which was featured in the media accusing her own daughter of kicking her out of the house shortly after Kobe’s death. Sofia Urbieta demands financial compensation from her daughter Vanessa, to which she also asks to acknowledge the years that she has worked as an assistant and babysitter.

Some accusations before which the widow of the five-time NBA champion exploded assuring that what his mother was doing was extortion: “My mother continues to look for ways to extort money from our family.” It is, for the moment, the end of a year marked by tragedy and the controversies that have accompanied it.