It’s the latest move in a fight over Redstone’s fortune.
Advertisement
Former stock analyst Jill Krutick was also given a board seat at National Amusements and became a trustee in the trust that will receive its assets when 92-year-old Redstone dies.
The move comes after media mogul Redstone announced last week the removal of Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman and Viacom board member George Abrams from the seven-person trust and as directors of National Amusements. Monday morning, Mr. Dauman and Mr. Abrams filed a lawsuit seeking to immediately block the changes in the probate court in Canton, Mass. In the suit, Abrams and Dauman charged that Shari Redstone is manipulating her father to make changes that will give her a clear path to control the two media companies.
Reuters reported on Sunday that Mr. Redstone, who will turn 93 on Friday, would add Mr. Jankowski and Ms. Krutick to his trust, citing sources familiar with the situation.
Dauman and Abrams say in their lawsuit that Redstone has rapidly deteriorated since then. “I have picked those who are loyal to me and removed those who are not”.
Ms. Krutick was a senior vice president of investor relations and corporate development at Warner Music Group and spent 15 years as an equity analyst, including some time at Citigroup Inc., according to the statement released Tuesday.
She has a second career as an abstract impressionist artist, the statement said.
People close to Viacom describe her as a close associate of Ms. Redstone. Prior to that she served as an equity analyst for 15 years, including as a managing director of US equity research at Citigroup, where she covered Viacom and other companies. He met the mogul while he was at the Boston University School of Law, where he was Mr. Redstone’s teaching assistant for a course on entertainment law. And guess who has control of the National Amusements board?
Ostheimer is a lawyer who practiced at the Legal Aid Society before leaving the work world to care for her children.
Ostheimer’s husband, Jason Ostheimer, is a co-founder of Shari Redstone’s digital media investment company, Advancit Capital.
In their complaint Monday, Messrs.
They have also questioned whether the people issuing statements for Mr. Redstone truly represent him.
Redstone is no longer chairman of Viacom or CBS, but remains at the helm of National Amusements, which controls both.
Advertisement
“The suit in California is Shari’s attempt to run away from the MA courts and to deflect attention from the real issue: Whether our friend and colleague Sumner is under the undue influence of his daughter, surrounded by a web of unfamiliar lawyers and public relations firms that she directs”, Fagen said in the statement.
