Dean Spanos Sued by Sister Amid Legal Battle for Control of Chargers

Dea Spanos Berberian is looking for sole authority of the family trust in the ownership.

Dea Spanos Berberian, the sister of Chargers owner Dean Spanos, is suing her brothers for “misogynistic” treatment, “self-dealing” and “breaches of fiduciary duty,” ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Kimberley Martin reported.

Berberian filed a lawsuit looking to gain full control of the Spanos family trust, which would remove Spanos as co-trustee, along with financial damages. The trust has control over one-third of the ownership stake.

In the suit, Berberian also accuses both her brothers, Dean and Michael Spanos, of acting “out of their deeply-held misogynistic attitudes and sense of entitlement as the men in the family ... and 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.”

She also claimed her brothers believe “regardless of what their parents intended and their wills specified, men are in charge and women should shut up.”

Among other accusations of the lawsuit include using $105 million of the trust to pay off debts and another $60 million to buy a plane with no connection to the business. Additionally, Berberian claims the Chargers’ move from San Diego to Los Angeles was “financially ruinous” and the family needs to sell to recoup the trust’s debt.

ESPN also reported that a lawyer familiar with the matter believes Berberian is trying to embarrass her brothers and that all three siblings, including Michael and Alexis Spanos, stand together in opposing her.

When previous owners Alex and Faye Spanos died in 2018, they left each of their four kids 15% of the team, and another 36% to the family trust with Dean Spanos and Berberian as co-trustees.

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