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A neighbor accuses businessman Mark Attanasio of taking sand from a Malibu beach for a project.
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The neighbor claims in a lawsuit that marine animals were exposed to “potentially dangerous” residue.
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The complaint states that there is a case of 'unauthorized construction'.
The neighbor of Milwaukee Brewers businessman and owner Mark Attanasio accuses him in a new lawsuit of using giant excavators to clear mounds of sand from a posh public beach in Malibu for a construction project.
Malibu homeowner James Kohlberg, the son of the late founder of global investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., alleged in the lawsuit that Attanasio's construction crews are wreaking havoc on upscale Broad Beach, exposing local marine life to “potentially hazardous” debris and restricting public access to “the entire” mile-long coastline.
“This case involves a private property owner using a public beach as his own personal sandbox and the disturbing conversion of a public natural resource (e.g., sand from Broad Beach) to the personal, private use of a nearby homeowner,” according to the civil lawsuit, filed last week in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
The plaintiff in the lawsuit is listed as Los Trancos Management Services, LLC, and the Los Angeles Times reported that Kohlberg is behind the limited liability company. Property records show Kohlberg owns a sprawling Broad Beach home that was purchased for $14.1 million in 2022.
The plaintiff's attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider on Wednesday.
Kenneth Ehrlich, an attorney for Attanasio, co-founder of asset manager Crescent Capital Group, told BI in an email that his client's LLC, called 2XMD, which is named as a defendant in the lawsuit, “has acted in 100% compliance with all of its licenses.”
“Our offices have received the complaint and will aggressively defend our clients' rights in this legal proceeding,” Ehrlich said in the statement.
Attanasio's attorney added: “2XMD and its principals have owned property on this beach for decades and have served as stewards of beach restoration and natural resource conservation. 2XMD is conducting a fully permitted emergency repair of the property to protect it from ocean forces. It has obtained all permits necessary for the repairs from the City of Malibu and LA County and has thoroughly vetted all contractors and subcontractors involved in the project.”
Property records list 2XMD as the owner of a five-bedroom, seven-bathroom home in Broad Beach that was purchased for $23 million in 2007, as well as a lot next door that was purchased for $6.6 million in 2018.
The complaint, which does not name Attanasio as a defendant but does name him as the “beneficial owner” of 2XMD, alleges that the defendants have removed large amounts of sand from Broad Beach in recent weeks “for one of the defendants to monopolize and retain for its exclusive benefit.”
“Indeed, Defendants operate massive excavators in tidal areas of the ocean, dragging with them all the materials, oils and other pollutants that the excavators transport or discharge. Such operations necessarily expose local marine life to potentially hazardous byproducts,” the lawsuit states.
It continues: “More specifically, Defendants use these excavators in tidal areas to scoop large amounts of sand from Broad Beach, a beach that has historically had problems with sand depletion. This sand is then placed on one of Defendants' private properties.”
The complaint, which includes photos of backhoes on the beach and alleges the defendants violated the California Coastal Act, alleges that the plaintiff filmed the defendants' “repeated bad acts.”
Attanasio's LLC applied for and received approval for several permits related to the restoration and strengthening of the seawall at one of the Broad Beach parcels it purchased in 2007, the lawsuit says.
However, the defendants have “conducted unauthorized construction and development activities on Broad Beach in connection with their construction operations,” the complaint says.
California construction company JILK Heavy Construction is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
Company representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The lawsuit also states that the plaintiff “suffered personal injury, including the weighing down of sand adjacent to and in front of his own property and exposure to gasoline on the beach and in the water in front of plaintiff's property.”
The plaintiff asks the court to order the defendants to return all the sand they took from Broad Beach, to repair any damage and to pay the fines.
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