Sinclair Wants Courts to Compel Discovery From MLB
Sinclair wants the courts to compel MLB to provide evidence connected with the $1.5 billion fraud claims brought against it by Diamond Sports Group in the Southern District of Texas Bankruptcy Court (docket 23-90116), according to a filing Tuesday (docket…
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1:23-mc-00468) in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has testified that Sinclair Chairman David Smith “allegedly admitted to a plan to ‘milk’ Diamond"of assets, said the filing. “The veracity of Manfred’s testimony” is “a central point of dispute in this case,” Sinclair said in Tuesday’s filing. Sinclair is also seeking documents from MLB and several baseball teams “that bear directly on the question of Diamond’s solvency,” the filing said. “MLB should be compelled to respond to the subpoenas in full,” the filing said. Sinclair wants the New York court to transfer the case to the Texas bankruptcy proceeding. “Sinclair filed this motion in the Southern District of New York because that is the compliance court for purposes of the subpoena Sinclair served on MLB, calling for production in this District,” the filing said. The court should rule quickly because discovery in the fraud case is cut off after Jan. 26, the filing said. “If this motion to compel is not decided on an expedited timeline, there is a material risk it would not be decided in time for Sinclair to make use of any additional materials the Court compels MLB to produce.”