In Malibu, an upscale Pacific enclave near Los Angeles, James Kohlberg, son of the late KKR & Co. co-founder Jerome Kohlberg, accused one other industry titan of stealing sand.
In a lawsuit, he alleges that a neighbor on Broad Beach Road, Mark Attanasio, principal owner of the Milwaukee Brewers, is using heavy machinery to dig up large portions of the general public beach as a part of a construction project.
“This case involves a private property owner using a public beach as his personal sandbox and disturbingly repurposing a public natural resource (that is, sand from Broad Beach) for the personal, private use of a nearby homeowner,” Kohlberg’s lawyers wrote within the criticism filed last week within the Beverly Hills branch of the Los Angeles state court.
Attanasio will “aggressively defend” his rights within the legal proceedings, his attorney, Kenneth Ehrlich, said in an emailed statement. Attanasio’s company has met the necessities of a constructing permit, the attorney said.
The Broad Beach dispute began after Attanasio received a permit to make repairs to the seawall on certainly one of his properties. Conditions within the permit prohibited using heavy machinery within the intertidal zone and the removal of sand from the general public beach, the criticism states.
Attanasio’s team used “giant excavators” to dredge the sand, disrupting local marine life and draining much more sand from a beach that had “historic concerns about sand depletion,” Kohlberg’s lawyers wrote.
Expensive houses
Malibu, a 21-mile stretch of beach, is a haven for celebrities, tech and finance billionaires and has the most costly homes ever sold in California.
California has its share of influential people involved in coastal disputes. In the north, enterprise capital billionaire Vinod Khosla has a 15 years of struggle to dam public access across his private property to a well-liked browsing spot near San Francisco. Further south, “Bond King” Bill Gross three years ago lost his bid to avoid charges after tormenting his neighbors in Laguna Beach by Gilligan’s Island Theme song over external speakers.
Kohlberg claims he contacted California regulators to no avail. The California Coastal Commission launched an investigation but took no steps to stop the sand theft, the criticism says.
California Coastal Law
The lawsuit cites violations of the California Coastal Act and nuisance claims. Kohlberg is looking for an injunction requiring Attanasio to exchange the sand and prohibiting him from taking any more sand, in addition to fines.
Attanasio’s attorney said his limited liability company, 2XMD, the legal owner of the Broad Beach Road property, “is in the midst of a fully approved emergency repair of the property to protect it from the forces of the ocean.”
“The company obtained all permits required for the repairs from the City of Malibu and Los Angeles County and thoroughly vetted all contractors and subcontractors involved in the project,” Ehrlich said in his statement. “The company was 100% compliant with all permits.”
Kohlberg bought his House on the beach in 2021 for $14.2 million, in accordance with property records. Attanasio paid $23 million in 2007 for a part of his property and $6.6 million for a adjoining property in 2017.
Attanasio is co-founder of Los Angeles-based Crescent Capital Group, another asset manager that had $43 billion in assets under management as of March 31.
Kohlberg is chairman of Kohlberg & Co., a personal equity firm founded by his father, who pioneered leveraged buyouts at KKR. Last month, Kohlberg pledged $30 million to fund a middle to advocate for Supreme Court reform, The Washington Post reported.
The case is Los Trancos Management Services LLC v. 2XMD Partners LLC, 24SMCV03828, California Superior Court, Los Angeles County (Beverly Hills).
