Sumner Redstone's Granddaughter Joins Viacom Directors' Battle Against Removal

Sumner Redstone

SUMNER REDSTONE's granddaughter KERYN REDSTONE -- niece of his daughter and VIACOM and CBS Vice Chair SHARI REDSTONE -- is joining the fight by VIACOM's directors to battle SHARI REDSTONE's attempt to oust them from the company's board.

The NEW YORK TIMES reports that KERYN REDSTONE has hired the same attorney, PIERCE O'DONNELL, who represented SUMNER REDSTONE's ex-girlfriend MANUELA HERZER in her suit challenging her removal as his health care representative, and is alleging that SUMNER REDSTONE has been incompetent since OCTOBER and that her aunt has restricted her from seeing her grandfather, who she describes as "lifeless and flanked by nurses and catheters" when she saw him on VALENTINE'S DAY.

KERYN REDSTONE released a statement WEDNESDAY saying that she would sue alongside the independent directors in a "common cause to liberate my grandfather from SHARI’s clutches and protect my fellow trust beneficiaries and myself from her machinations."  She charges that SHARI and her family "have managed to totally isolate and effectively kidnap, brainwash and take advantage of my grandfather due to his debilitated state of mind and frail health..... succeed(ing) in reversing decades of my grandfather’s careful estate planning and are poised to seize control of VIACOM and CBS.  I do not intend to let SHARI get away with this outrage."

Previously, KERYN REDSTONE tried to join HERZER's suit; her petition was rejected.  Her father, BRENT REDSTONE, SUMNER REDSTONE's son, has long been estranged from the family and sued his father in 2006 for being allegedly frozen out of the business, leading to BRENT being bought out and the suit settled.

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