The Moda Middle is seen in Portland, Ore., Aug. 19, 2025.
Morgan Barnaby / OPB
In a lawsuit filed in Delaware and made public Friday, Raj Sports activities, which owns two skilled sports activities groups in Portland, argues that as bids have been being formalized to buy the Rose Metropolis’s most dear workforce, an concerned household misled them in violation of a authorized settlement.
The proprietor of the Portland Path Blazers, the Allen Property, accepted a bid from an possession group led by Tom Dundon, the proprietor of the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes. The Cherng household was introduced as a part of Dundon’s possession group when that bid was formally accepted earlier this month.
However in line with a lawsuit from Raj Sports activities Holdings, LLC, the Cherngs have been initially a part of a separate possession group led by Raj Sports activities.
Raj Sports activities, the sports activities funding agency owned by Alex Bhathal and Lisa Bhathal Merage, manages the Portland Thorns soccer workforce and the town’s WNBA workforce, the Portland Hearth.
Based on the lawsuit, the Bhathal household was enthusiastic about buying the Blazers as a 3rd workforce in Portland, saying, “Given the natural appeal and synergies of united ownership of Portland’s NBA and WNBA franchises and of holding three different professional athletic franchises in a single city, [Raj Sports] immediately started preparing a bid for the Trail Blazers franchise after the Allen Estate’s announcement.”
The Cherng household, the lawsuit stated, was amongst an preliminary group of “friends and family” that Raj Sports activities put collectively to create a bid.
“The Cherngs were eager to participate in Plaintiff’s bid, and, at their direction, the Cherng Family Trust was set to be the largest investor in Plaintiff’s investor group other than the Plaintiff,” the lawsuit reads.
The Raj Sports activities lawsuit goes on to say that the Bhathals and their representatives met with the Cherng household, and shared proprietary details about their analysis and potential plans for the Path Blazers. The partnership gave the impression to be additional cemented by a choice communicated to Raj Sports activities, in line with the lawsuit, that on Aug. 22, the Cherng’s funding council “signed off” on becoming a member of the Raj Sports activities bid.
The joint effort between Raj Sports activities and the Cherng household began to unravel a couple of days later, in line with the lawsuit. A two-and-a-half-hour assembly on Aug. 27 was adopted by emails from Cherng representatives expressing “they were surprised with the pushback on various of the issues, and were expecting more flexibility.”
The lawsuit says that later that night time Raj Sports activities acquired what it described as a “pencils down” message. The lawsuit says the following day that representatives of the 2 households, Alex Bhathal and Andrew Cherng, spoke, with Cherng telling Bhathal “unequivocally” that the Cherngs weren’t in discussions with Dundon’s workforce about becoming a member of that group.
These conversations have been happening roughly two weeks after Dundon’s group had reached a tentative settlement with the Allen Property to purchase the workforce. The Cherngs weren’t talked about as being concerned in that bid in information stories on the time.
As not too long ago as Sept. 5, the Raj Sports activities lawsuit says, the Cherngs remained actively engaged, and “solicited and received in-depth updates from one of Plaintiff’s advisors on deal dynamics and tactics through multiple calls and written communications.”
Every week later, the Allen Property formally accepted the Dundon workforce’s provide and the participation of the Cherngs as members of that possession group was made public.
Raj Sports activities within the lawsuit alleges that the Cherngs, and particularly Andrew Cherng in his cellphone name with Alex Bhathal, made statements that have been “false and made with an intent to deceive.”
The lawsuit finally alleges that the best way the Cherngs participated in two competing bids to purchase the Path Blazers was a breach of contract.
“As a direct result of Defendants’ breaches of the Exclusivity Agreement and intertwined tortious interference with the Exclusivity Agreement and Raj Sports’ reasonable business opportunity to acquire the Trail Blazers franchise, Raj Sports has suffered substantial losses,” the lawsuit reads.
The Raj Sports activities swimsuit says its representatives knowledgeable the Allen Property of the Cherngs’ actions, three days after the Dundon bid was publicly accepted. The grievance requires a restraining order or injunction towards the Cherngs, in addition to “damages … in an amount to be proven at trial.”
An e-mail despatched to a consultant of the Cherng household didn’t get a response instantly.
