Vanessa Bryant plans to donate her $16 million settlement money from her court win to the Mamba & Mambacita Foundation.
After winning her lawsuit with Chris Chester against the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office for leaking the photos of Kobe Bryant’s helicopter crash site, her attorney Luis Li said that Vanessa is using the money to support her husband’s foundation. “From the beginning, Vanessa Bryant has sought only accountability, but our legal system does not permit her to force better policies, more training, or officer discipline,” he said to the L.A. Times.
“Mrs. Bryant was courageous and never faltered, even when the County attempted to force her to submit to an involuntary psychiatric examination. She is deeply grateful to Ralph Mendez and Luella Weireter, the good Samaritans who brought to light the decades-old practice of taking and sharing photos of accident and crime victims for no legitimate purpose.”
The Mamba and Mambacita Foundation is a nonprofit organization that provides sports education to young athletes in underserving communities. Mambacita was added in honor of Gigi Bryant, who was also killed in the helicopter crash with her father Kobe and
Li added that Vanessa hopes the case will shed further light on civil rights cases that involve police distributing crime scene photos as amusement.
“It is Mrs. Bryant’s hope that this important civil rights case will put to a stop this abhorrent and callous behavior.”
As previously reported, the photos of the January 2020 crash site were distributed among deputies and firefighters in addition to their spouses. One deputy shared the photos during a video game session with a colleague.
The 11-day trial was concluded on Wednesday after emotional testimony from Vanessa Bryant and Chris Chester. Additionally, Chester requested $32 million, but Bryant’s team didn’t request any specific amount.