Judge unseals damning emails between Shari Redstone and her son
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A California judge has denied a bid by Shari Redstone to keep under seal a complaint filed by her father’s former girlfriend.
The complaint by Manuela Herzer, which seeks $100 million in damages, alleges that Shari “conspired” with her son to seize control of Viacom and CBS — the media giants controlled by her ailing father, Sumner Redstone.
Herzer is also allowed to file an updated unredacted version of her complaint, Judge Philip Gutierrez ruled.
The unredacted portion of the complaint revealed juicy, never-before-seen e-mails and texts between Shari, and her son, Tyler Korff.
“[I]t would be good if we could get him to undue [sic] all of the legal documents, letters and affidavits that he has done against me,” Shari wrote in an October 2015 e-mail to her son, the newly filed complaint reveals.
Months earlier, in July, Shari had e-mailed Tyler to explain, Shari wrote to her son: “Your grandfather says I will be chair over his dead body.”
The e-mail would seem to contradict a letter produced by Shari in December 2015, purportedly representing Sumner expectations, that maintained he wanted his daughter to succeed him as board chair.
That letter, the unredacted complaint alleges, was “completely fabricated.”
Shari is now the non-executive vice chairman of the Viacom board. Sumner is chairman emeritus of both the Viacom and CBS boards. Shari is vice chair of the CBS board.
The lawsuit claims Shari and her son eavesdropped on Herzer’s confidential conversations with Sumner and others, bribed domestic help to spy on Herzer, and copied Herzer’s financial documents.
The pair schemed to get Herzer evicted from Redstone’s Beverly Hills mansion and to manipulate him so they could take over CBS and Viacom, the suit alleges.
Robert Klieger, a lawyer for Shari and Tyler, dismissed the new information, saying it is “worth noting the critical difference between unsworn allegations and under-oath testimony.”
“Ms. Herzer and her legion of lawyers have now brought the same fanciful claims in probate court (twice), California state court, New York state court, and federal district court [in California],” Klieger told The Post. “Soon she’ll be left with nothing but Judge Judy and ‘The People’s Court.’ We’ll save further comment for when the case is dismissed.”