Atlantic Yards Report on July 24th, 2009:
...On Wednesday night, at the
informational meeting on Atlantic Yards sponsored by three community boards,
Forest City Ratner's [Executive VP] MaryAnne Gilmartin was asked about reports
that principal owner Bruce Ratner was selling the Nets to minority owner (and
Brooklynite) Vinny Viola.
"That's not true," Gilmartin said.
Maybe so, but it was a narrow answer to a narrow question.
>Was Gilmartin parsing (yes, not for sale to Viola but for
sale to an oligarch, or was she just plain...lying.)
No need to go that far back, lets look
at September 18th, and Nets President Brett Yormark:
...Nets CEO Brett Yormark would not confirm that Prokhorov is a potential
investor.
"As we have said before, we have received interest from potential investors
in the team. That interest is growing as it is clear that we are moving to Brooklyn.
Our ownership group is as committed as ever to the success of the Nets and to
the Barclays Center," Yormark said in a statement.
Must just be some more parsing, since these guys don't lie, right? (By the way, Prokhorov isn't simply an investor, he would own 80% of the Nets if his deal with Ratner ever closes. That is called a majority owner, not simply "an investor." Ratner, with his future miniscule share of the team, is an investor.)
