A daughter of former Major League Baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth has filed a motion in probate court in Orange County to oust the man in charge of her family’s trust with allegations of fiscal irresponsibility and manipulation of Ueberroth and his wife of 66 years as they battle dementia, according to court records obtained Friday.
Vicki Ueberroth Booth, who has power of attorney, filed court papers this week with what she claimed were recently “discovered facts” about Michael McKee, who took over as trustee in April 2024, and two longtime associates of her father, who came to prominence as he oversaw the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles and then served as baseball’s commissioner until 1989.
McKee’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for a response. A hearing on Booth’s motion to update her litigation is scheduled for June 10.
Booth’s attorney, Gabrielle Vidal, said, “It has been deeply distressing for Vicki and her family to watch Mr. McKee, someone her parents once trusted, betray that trust at a time when they are most vulnerable. Filing this petition — and bringing sensitive and private family matters into a public form — was not a decision made lightly, but a necessary one to protect their parents, safeguard what they built, and ensure that their wishes are honored. Mr. McKee’s continued breaches of his fiduciary duties and his misuse of authority have left her no choice but to seek the court’s intervention.”
Booth alleges McKee “unilaterally extended” a loan due in April of last year to personal assistant Stephanie Quesada for her home in Corona del Mar.
“Before the loan came due, McKee unilaterally extended the loan (roughly ($1.6 million) for an additional five years — without notice to or consent from any beneficiary, and solely for Quesada’s benefit — even though the trust had no obligation to do so,” the motion alleged.
The extension preserved a below-market interest rate of 1.43% for Quesada, Booth said. She said McKee “concealed” the transaction for more than a year.
Booth also alleged that after Ueberroth was diagnosed with dementia and was incapacitated McKee got his signature so Quesada, her husband, and others could access his Cypress Point Club membership.
She also alleged that McKee “obtained or facilitated” Ueberroth’s signature on “at least” 25 checks drawn on the trust and his accounts with the businessman’s Newport Beach-based Contrarian Group after Ueberroth was “declared incapacitated.”
Booth accused him of failing to produce copies of the checks or disclose how much they were worth and that she only learned of it late last year.
She also alleged that Contrarian’s bookkeeper “covertly recorded” Ueberroth “while posing leading questions designed to justify continued control over assets.” She also accused McKee and the two other associates of “pressuring” Ueberroth to “dismiss caregivers and encouraging him to resume driving in defiance of neurological instructions.”
Booth seeks to become the sole trustee of the estate.
Ueberroth’s wife, Virginia, had to stop driving in April 2023 following a car accident, her daughter said in the court papers. She also suffered falls in July 2023 and March 2024, which was seriously enough to require emergency hip surgery, Booth said.
Peter Ueberroth was formally diagnosed with dementia in March 2024, but was seen to be in decline by his children before that, Booth said. He resisted seeing a doctor, she added.
Peter Ueberroth also had to stop driving and were placed together in a facility, Booth said.
Booth alleged that her father’s longtime associates also “secretly” sent an “unauthorized” transfer of $2 million in the family’s trust to a Los Angeles-based charity with no links to the Ueberroths.
“The documentation contained a questionable signature attributed to Peter, lacked any signature from Virginia, installed Quesada as successor advisor, and was notarized by Quesada herself, eliminating any independent safeguard,” Booth said.
Booth halted the donation and redirected it to Orange County charities “consistent” with the family’s preferred beneficiaries, she said.