In a lawsuit involving her late husband, basketball legend Kobe Bryant, Vanessa Bryant was awarded a $1.5 million victory in arbitration, and during the course of the proceedings Vanessa’s legal team exposed the ex president of Kobe Inc. as a racist.
10% BodyArmor Stake
In 2013, Kobe invested $6 million into BodyArmor. The terms of the investment called for the Lakers legend to receive a 10 percent stake in the beverage company. When the company was sold to Coca-Cola for $5.6 billion, his stake turned into a realized $400 million.
But what does this have to do with Molly Carter and a lawsuit?
In 2019, six months before Kobe and his daughter Gianna Bryant were killed in a helicopter crash in California, then Kobe Inc. president Carter alleged that Kobe promised her 2 percent of his BodyArmor investment. Kobe said her claim was false, and he never made any such promise.
Carter’s Violation Of Her Employment Contract
Carter sued Kobe and in the aftermath of the Hall of Famer’s death Vanessa picked up the defense and filed her own countersuit, alleging Carter did not adhere to the non-disparagement clause in her employment contract by trash-talking Kobe and the family.
The widow and mother of four accused Carter of calling her late husband an “a**hole,” a “douche nugget,” and a “d**k wad.” There are also reports of Carter referring to Vanessa as the “f**king devil,” a “b**ch” and “PSYCHO,” even making fun of the couple’s youngest daughter Capri by saying she had “botox lips.”
Vanessa also claims that Carter made race-related comments while flying on the company-sponsored jet plane to an All-Star game, claiming Carter noted “a lot of fancy-ass Black people” on board.
According to Carter’s LinkedIn profile, she was with Kobe Inc, and Granity Studios for just under six years. Granity is the company’s multi-media content creation company, which was responsible for the Academy Award-winning short “Dear Basketball.”
“As President of Kobe Inc., I set the vision for and led Bryant’s global brand and business endeavors. This included strategic direction, partnerships, brand management and business development across all business units including Granity Studios, an independent multi-media content creation company. In addition, I provided management oversight to Mamba Sports Foundation, Mamba Sports Academy, and Bryant Stibel Investments,” Carter’s LinkedIn profile states.
“For Granity Studios, I directly oversaw the team, including the publishing, production and animation divisions, while leading project development, execution and distribution. Served as co-Executive Producer of ‘Dear Basketball,’ an animated short film which received a 2018 Academy Award for Best Nominated Short and a 2018 Annie Award in the same category. As co-EP of the film, I helped secure distribution rights, and led all marketing and public relations efforts related to the film. I secured distribution for Bryant’s basketball show “Detail” on ESPN+, and served as the producer of the franchise which grew to feature multiple sports with high-profile athletes and coaches. I also built an internal publishing team and we went on to release six books, with five listed as NYT bestsellers.”
The legal team for the Bryants filed documents asking an Orange County Superior Court judge to ratify the $1.5 million arbitration award.
