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Vanessa Bryant said Thursday that her mother is trying "to extort a financial windfall" by claiming in a lawsuit that she financially cut her children's grandmother off after her husband, Kobe, and daughter Gianna were killed in a helicopter crash.
"My mother is continuing to try and find ways to extort a financial windfall from our family," Bryant wrote in a statement posted to her Instagram story. "Because I did not give in to her hurtful threats and monetary requests, she has spiraled out of control and is making false and absurd claims."
On Tuesday, Sofia Laine, 68, filed a complaint about damages in Orange County Superior Court against Bryant and her husband's estate, alleging that the late basketball legend had promised to take care of his mother-in-law financially for the rest of her life and that since his death, Vanessa Bryant has taken "each and every step" to "void and cancel" those promises.
Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, and seven other people were killed in a helicopter crash in Southern California on Jan. 26.
According to the complaint, Bryant later sold her mother's house and Mercedes-Benz, canceled her health insurance, and left her alone in an apartment "where she was left to deal with the painful death of Kobe Bryant and her granddaughter alone."
Laine is also alleging that the Bryants failed to pay her any wages, which she listed at $96.15 per hour, claiming she worked as a personal assistant to her daughter and a nanny for the family.
On Tuesday, Sofia Laine, 68, filed a complaint about damages in Orange County Superior Court against Bryant and her husband's estate, alleging that the late basketball legend had promised to take care of his mother-in-law financially for the rest of her life and that since his death, Vanessa Bryant has taken "each and every step" to "void and cancel" those promises.