In 2017, Cher sued Patrick Soon-Shiong — the Los Angeles Times’ billionaire owner — for allegedly tricking her into underselling her shares in a pharmaceutical company, according to Page Six. As alleged in Cher’s filings, she sold her portion of Altor shares for $450,000 because she wasn’t aware of the company’s billion-dollar potential. Cher claimed that Shiong didn’t disclose the fact that Altor was making strides against fighting cancer and HIV before encouraging her to sell. Soon-Shiong denied any wrongdoing. “The lawsuit has no merit,” said Soon-Shiongs’s spokesperson in a statement obtained by The Los Angeles Times. An anonymous source also claimed that Soon-Shiong was unaware that Cher had any interest in Altor in any capacity.
Cher pushed ahead with her lawsuit against Soon-Shiong by producing communications in the form of emails between her lawyer and one of Soon-Shiong’s employees about her stock in the company. “Soon-Shiong pretended he wanted to speak with me about it,” Cher told The Post (via Page Six). “Really, he just wanted to grab my shares at a discount.” However, Soon-Shiong’s team again denied that he was aware of Cher’s financial dealings with Altor. Ultimately, Cher’s case against Soon-Shiong was dismissed later that year.
