Herb Simon, the billionaire co-founder of Simon Property Group and majority owner of the Indiana Pacers, filed a lawsuit in July against the family of his nephew David Simon. The suit alleges that his relatives secretly shifted away assets and dissolved a three-decades-old sister company without his permission, stripping him of economic benefits.The family dispute became public after the lawsuit was filed in a Marion County courthouse on July 31.

Herb Simon, 91, cofounded what became Simon Property Group with his brother Mel (d. 2009) and Fred (d. 2019) in 1960 in Indianapolis. Mel’s son, David, was named CEO of Simon Property Group in 1995 at age 33, roughly two years after it went public. He ran it for nearly 31 years, building it into one of the nation’s largest mall developers with more than 250 properties including Woodbury Common Premium Outlets and King of Prussia mall. He was still chairman and CEO right up until his death from pancreatic cancer in March at age 64. Immediately after his passing, the company tapped David’s 38-year-old son Eli, the firm’s chief operating officer, to succeed him as CEO. (Simon Property’s announcement about David’s death and Eli’s promotion does not mention Herb Simon, who was chairman emeritus until 2025 and remains one of the company’s largest individual shareholders.)

At the center of the squabble is SFG, an entity that Herb and Mel set up in August of 1995 to hold the family’s interests in certain real estate properties that did not become part of Simon Property at the time of its IPO.

The lawsuit claims that David—and later Eli—discreetly engineered a corporate reorganization to transfer the assets of SFG to a newly created entity. Herb and the other plaintiffs, including Bank of America as a trustee for his brother’s second wife Bren, argue that the move eliminated some contractual provisions that had allowed preferred equity holders like themselves to receive financial distributions for more than three decades.

“It violated the plain terms of SFG’s operating agreement, breached the manager’s fiduciary duties to deal fairly, honestly, and openly, and constituted a self-dealing transaction that no reasonable manager acting in good faith would have authorized,” the complaint states.

The defendants named in the lawsuit include David’s widow Jacqueline Simon representing his estate, his daughter Hannah representing a trust (David had five children), and his sisters Cynthia Simon-Skjodt and Deborah Simon. Attorneys representing Eli and David Simon’s estate did not immediately respond to Forbes’ request for comment.

Herb and his older brothers Mel and Fred were apparently very close for years. The sons of a Jewish tailor who emigrated from Central Europe, they grew up together in a Bronx walk-up and all eventually moved out to Indianapolis. They opened their first strip mall together in Bloomington, Indiana in 1960.

The brothers loved their new hometown so much that they bought the struggling Indiana Pacers for $10 million in 1983. Smart move: 40 years later, Herb Simon, who founded the WNBA’s Indiana Fever in 1999, is the longest tenured NBA owner and was inducted into the NBA’s Hall of Fame in 2024. And the family’s stake, after selling 15% to billionaire Steve Rales in 2023, is worth 2.6 billion.

The Simons are far from the only wealthy family that’s fought over their vast fortunes. Disputes are not uncommon among families whose fortunes span multiple marriages or generations. In fact, it’s not even the first time the Simon family has fought over money. Mel Simon’s daughter Deborah, one of the defendants in the current suit, sued her stepmother Bren in 2010 alleging that she persuaded her father to change his will months before his death, increasing her share of his estate by hundreds of millions of dollars. The nasty fight ended in a confidential settlement in 2012.

According to court filings, SFG was formed to hold real estate interests and other assets for members of the Simon family and other select investors. At the time of its founding in 1995, its sole manager was Melvin & Associates Inc., Simon’s predecessor company, which was named after Herb’s brother. Under the original agreements, Herb and other equity holders were entitled to a "preference amount" of regular distributions compared to other investors. The plaintiffs argue that those economic interests were not allowed to be amended without their consent.

The seeds of discontent were likely sowed back in 2013, when Melvin & Associates Inc. transferred authority to a new entity created and solely managed by David Simon named SFG Manager LLC, as part of an agreement signed on behalf of all shareholders of SFG. At that time, an appraisal for SFG estimated its value at just over $920 million, the complaint shows. As the sole manager of the company, David then had full authority to sign documents, execute contracts and make management decisions on behalf of SFG.

Herb, who is married to a former Miss Universe from Thailand and has eight kids, alleges that negotiations over the future of the company became a sticking point long before the latest missives were fired. In the years before David’s death, Herb claims that David had repeatedly attempted to buy him out of SFG, but those talks broke down over disagreements on the valuation of his stake. The lawsuit argues that after those negotiations failed, David and his son Eli then went ahead with a restructuring to accomplish the same but in secret, without Herb’s knowledge or approval.

The terms of the new entity, SFG Manager, permitted Eli to take over as the manager of SFG just days before his father’s death. He then proceeded to create another holding company named “SFG HoldCo, LLC” with the intent of dissolving the original SFG and transferring all of its assets into the new vehicle. While the same ownership stakes remained in the reorganization, certain terms were removed, including the preferential payments to some equity holders.

The plaintiffs, led by Herb, are asking the judge to reverse the transaction, restore SFG’s previous governance structure and award punitive damages to affected shareholders. As of April 2026, SFG is disclosed to hold at least 6,918,267 shares of Simon Property, worth more than $1.53 billion, according to court documents.

Rest assured, no one in this feud is worried about how they’re going to pay their bills. Herb Simon is worth nearly $8 billion and the rest of the extended family an additional $9 billion. At this point, it’s probably just another way for the factions to keep score.

Edited by Luisa Kroll and Giacomo Tognini