The owner of an MLB team is accused of taking sand from a public Malibu beach for a construction project at his posh home

• A neighbor has accused the businessman Mark Attanasio of taking sand from a Malibu beach for a project.
• The neighbor says in a lawsuit marine life has been exposed to "potentially hazardous" residues.
• The complaint says there's been "unauthorized construction."

A neighbor of the business magnate and Milwaukee Brewers owner Mark Attanasio has accused him in a new lawsuit of using gigantic excavators to take mounds of sand from a ritzy public Malibu beach for a construction project.

James Kohlberg, a Malibu homeowner and son of the late founder of the global investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. , alleges in the lawsuit that Attanasio's construction crew has been wreaking havoc on the posh Broad Beach, exposing local marine life there to "potentially hazardous" residues, and restricting public access to the "entirety" of the milelong coastline.

"This case is about a private property owner using a public beach as their own personal sandbox and the disturbing conversion of a public natural resource (i.e., sand from Broad Beach) for a nearby homeowner's personal, private use," the civil lawsuit, filed last week in Los Angeles County Superior Court, says.

The plaintiff in the lawsuit is listed as Los Trancos Management Services, and the Los Angeles Times reported Kohlberg was behind the limited liability company, which property records show as the owner of a sprawling Broad Beach home that was purchased in 2022 for $14.1 million.

Lawyers for the plaintiff did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Business Insider.

Kenneth Ehrlich, an attorney for Attanasio, a cofounder of the investment-management firm 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 permits."

"Our offices have received the complaint and will aggressively defend our client's rights in this legal process," 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 for beach restoration and preservation of natural resources. 2XMD is in the midst of a fully-permitted emergency repair of the property to protect it from ocean forces. It has secured all permits necessary for the repairs from the City of Malibu and LA County as well as thoroughly vetted all contractors and sub-contractors involved in the project."

Property records list 2XMD as the owner of a five-bedroom, seven-bathroom Broad Beach home that was purchased in 2007 for $23 million and a lot next door that was bought in 2018 for $6.6 million.

The complaint, which does not list Attanasio as a defendant but names him in the complaint as the "beneficial owner" of 2XMD, alleges that for the past several weeks, the defendants removed large amounts of sand from Broad Beach "for one of the Defendants to monopolize and maintain for its exclusive benefit."

"Indeed, Defendants operate enormous excavators in tidal zones in the ocean, dragging along any materials, oils, and other pollutants the excavators carry or discharge. Such operations necessarily expose local marine life to potentially hazardous biproducts," the lawsuit says.

It adds: "More tangibly, Defendants use these same excavators in tidal zones to scoop significant amounts of sand from Broad Beach, a beach with historic concerns of sand depletion, only to be placed on one of the Defendants' private properties."

The lawsuit, which includes photos of excavators on the beach and alleges that the defendants have violated the California Coastal Act, says that the plaintiff has recorded video of the defendants' "repeated bad acts."

Attanasio's LLC applied and got approval for several permits in connection with the repair and reinforcement of the seawall at the Broad Beach property that was bought in 2007, the lawsuit says.

However, the defendants "have engaged in unauthorized construction and development on Broad Beach in connection with their construction efforts," the complaint says.

The California construction company Jilk Heavy Construction is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

Representatives for the company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The lawsuit also says the plaintiff has "suffered personal harm, including having depleted sand next to, and in front of, its own property and has been exposed to gasoline oil on the beach and in the water in front of Plaintiff's property."

The plaintiff is asking the court to order the defendants to return all the sand it took from Broad Beach, repair any damages, and pay fines.