Darius Anderson, the Sonoma lobbyist, developer and former principal owner of The Press Democrat, is being sued by his billionaire mentor, who accuses him of fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, failure to produce corporate records and other alleged business violations.
A company controlled by grocery magnate Ron Burkle filed the lawsuit Feb. 6 in Los Angeles County. It accuses Anderson of paying himself potentially more than $20 million from the accounts of his Sacramento lobbying firm, Platinum Advisors, and his Sonoma-based real estate investment company, Kenwood Investments — money that Burkle argues should have been shared with business partners, primarily Burkle himself.
The legal battle, including a subsequent complaint filed by Anderson, offers a public view into a high-stakes business dispute, and an increasingly personal feud between two men whose paths — and fortunes, to some degree — have been linked for more than three decades.
“Darius Anderson touts himself as a ‘modern day renaissance man,’” the complaint from Burkle’s OA 3 LLC firm reads. “Anderson’s image appears on the landing page (of his website), dressed in cowboy attire, above a grandiose declaration of his integrity.
“Behind this carefully curated facade, however, Anderson quietly orchestrated a decade-long campaign of self-dealing — funneling millions to himself through undisclosed payments, creating secret competing entities, and systematically depriving his business partner of every dollar owed.”
The dispute, according to Burkle’s lawsuit, stems from Anderson withholding financial records from his business partner as he attempted to sell Platinum Advisors to a private equity-backed buyer last year. Burkle now contends that the information he eventually obtained shows Anderson was paying himself richly out of business accounts without compensating Burkle for his stake.
The lawsuit seeks monetary damages to be determined at trial, and a “full and accurate accounting” of the companies Anderson controls.
Anderson did not respond to a request for comment. He was managing member of Sonoma Media Investments, which owned The Press Democrat and six sibling publications for over a dozen years until their sale last year to MediaNews Group.
John Burgess/The Press DemocratSonoma Media Investments founder Darius Anderson spoke to employees and family members of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat Media Group after the group he lead completed the purchase from Halifax Media on Thursday, November 8, 2012. (John Burgess/The Press Democrat) AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, FileFILE – In this Wednesday, June 15, 2016, file photo, Ron Burkle rides along the victory parade route for the Pittsburgh Penguins NHL hockey team, in Pittsburgh. Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch has found a new owner in billionaire businessman Burkle. Burkle’s spokesman said in an email Thursday, Dec. 24, 2020, that Burkle bought the 2,700-acre property near Santa Barbara, California. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File) AP Photo/Susan WalshPresident Donald Trump, right, shakes hands with Pittsburgh Penguins owner Ronald Burkle, third from left, as first lady Melania Trump, center in green, watches, with Mario Lemieux during a ceremony to honor the 2017 NHL Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, fileFILE – This Dec. 17, 2004, file photo shows the rear entrance to pop star Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch home in Santa Ynez, Calif. Jackson’s Neverland Ranch has found a new owner in billionaire businessman Ron Burkle. Burkle’s spokesman said in an email Thursday, Dec. 24, 2020, that Burkle bought the 2,700-acre property near Santa Barbara, California. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, file) Press Democrat fileA gate to Wing & Barrel Ranch, a private hunting club owned by lobbyist and Press Democrat part-owner Darius Anderson, off Highway 37 in Sonoma. (Press Democrat file) Beth Schlanker / The Press DemocratPeople visit a field of 1,000 American flags after the inaugural Sonoma County Field of Honor event at Wing and Barrel Ranch in Sonoma Sunday, Nov. 10, 2024. (Beth Schlanker / The Press Democrat) Show CaptionJohn Burgess/The Press Democrat1 of 6Sonoma Media Investments founder Darius Anderson spoke to employees and family members of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat Media Group after the group he lead completed the purchase from Halifax Media on Thursday, November 8, 2012. (John Burgess/The Press Democrat) ExpandRelated Articles
Dog’s remains found at scene of Fremont fire 46 people so far detained by ICE outside Santa Clara County jail, sparking protests Debate continues over Richmond’s use of Flock cameras Man got caught in Oakland undercover pimp sting while out of jail in pending gun case, feds say Man breaks into Oakland police HQ, steals radio before arrestAnderson’s San Francisco-based attorney, Navi Dhillon, described Burkle in an email as “a small, passive investor who made a one-time contribution nearly three decades ago” to Platinum Advisors, and “never once raised an issue during that time.” He said the OA 3 owner made a 900% return on his original investment.
“Burkle filed a baseless lawsuit in an effort to hold up the potential sale of Platinum,” Dhillon wrote. “Burkle fails to grasp that not everything is about money. Ending the relationship with Burkle is paramount, especially in light of his reported affiliations with certain individuals that have made it untenable to have any association with him.”
Burkle’s name appeared in Jeffrey Epstein’s black book (misspelled as Burckle), and on Epstein’s private flight logs. Burkle, 73, was also reported to be a close friend and business partner of former film producer and convicted sex offender Harvey Weinstein; they produced several movies together.
Burkle’s attorney, Los Angeles-based Patricia Glaser, declined to speak on the record. She said only that her client’s association with Anderson “was at one time a good relationship. I would describe it as strained now.”
That connection dates back more than 30 years.
In 1995, according to the OA 3 lawsuit, Burkle employed Anderson as chief of staff at The Yucaipa Companies, the private equity firm founded by Burkle that has specialized in leveraged buyouts of supermarket and grocery chains. Anderson would have been around 30 years old at the time.
The lawsuit describes Burkle as Anderson’s mentor. He extended the younger man a personal loan to buy a house, and was the best man at Anderson’s first wedding. Anderson’s personal website said Burkle “schooled me in finance and art,” until the note was deleted this week.
The two men would later team up on a plan to develop the aging Westfield mall in downtown Sacramento into a commercial complex centered on the Sacramento Kings’ Golden 1 Center.
Anderson was still working at the Yucaipa Companies when he founded Platinum Advisors, which grew to become one of California’s largest lobbying firms. Burkle provided $100,000 in seed money in exchange for a 10% interest in the new company; in 2000, he increased his share of the company to 20%, according to Burkle’s complaint.
That same year, the complaint states, Anderson paid off his debt to Burkle by giving his company, OA 3, a 10% interest in Kenwood Investments, Anderson’s real estate investment and development firm.
But Burkle “experienced a rude awakening in the fall of 2025,” his attorneys wrote.
Anderson, 61, approached Burkle on Oct. 1, offering to buy out OA 3’s stake in Platinum Advisors for $1 million, according to Burkle. Anderson had received an offer from “a bona fide, private equity-backed third-party purchaser” and was trying to sell the company, he acknowledged in his own subsequent lawsuit. Filed simultaneously in Los Angeles and San Francisco on Feb. 13, Anderson’s suit seeks to dissolve the Platinum partnership.
The deal with the third-party purchaser was never consummated.
At the time, in Burkle’s telling, he asked Anderson for copies of Platinum Advisors’ financial records, “but Anderson resisted.”
Then came what the OA 3 lawsuit calls “a shocking confession.” According to the complaint, Anderson divulged that he had been carrying a grudge against Burkle since 2013 — it’s not clear why — and had “vowed not to pay OA 3 any distributions from that point forward.”
When OA 3 was finally able to access some of Platinum Advisors’ records, it wasn’t because Anderson handed them over. A potential buyer had received them during the due diligence process.
Those records, and a spreadsheet provided to Burkle by Anderson, revealed that the lobbying company had paid Anderson as much as $16.5 million in compensation between 2014-2025, according to Burkle’s complaint.
Anderson had no lawful discretion to unilaterally authorize those payments, Burkle argues, citing a section of the Platinum Advisors operating agreement stating that compensation for managers must be determined by members.
“Any suggestion that Anderson devoted sufficient time to Platinum Advisors to justify a seven-figure salary is comical,” Burkle’s complaint states, arguing that Anderson had spread himself thin as CEO of his luxury hunting club Wing & Barrel Ranch in Sonoma, managing member of Sonoma Media Investments, founder of the Rebuild North Bay Foundation and membership on several boards, in addition to his main business ventures.
Anderson’s spreadsheets also showed that he received nearly $1 million from Kenwood Investments during the period, according to Burkle’s lawsuit, and more than $4 million in total from Platinum Advisors San Francisco and Platinum Advisors DC — two offshoots that Burkle says he hadn’t even been aware of.
Platinum Advisors DC reported over $2.8 million in revenue from clients in 2025, according to the nonprofit OpenSecrets, which tracks money in U.S. politics.
Meanwhile, Burkle claims, he didn’t receive a penny from the various companies. IRS tax documents showed that Platinum Advisors had recorded modest annual profits of between $20,000 and $90,000 since 2004, while Kenwood Investments paid out “a low four- to five-figure profit,” according to Burkle’s suit.
Anderson’s subsequent complaint characterized Burkle’s legal action as “laced with inaccurate statements aimed to smear Mr. Anderson, all part of a broader strategy to extract an unwarranted monetary payment.”
It also accused Burkle’s team of filing its complaint in the wrong venue, arguing it should have happened in San Francisco. The two sides are working now to schedule mediation sessions.
Forbes magazine estimates Burkle’s net worth at just under $4 billion. He built his fortune buying and selling supermarket chains such as Fred Meyer, Food 4 Less and Ralphs, and later invested in tech firms including Airbnb and Uber. He is a part owner of the NHL Pittsburgh Penguins, and former owner of the San Diego Wave FC of the National Women’s Soccer League.
Burkle’s signature real estate holdings include Greenacres Estate, a lavish Beverly Hills property built for silent-screen star Harold Lloyd; a private island in Montana’s Flathead Lake; and Neverland Ranch, tinged with fame and infamy by its late former owner, pop legend Michael Jackson.
Burkle has been a major donor to the Democratic Party and its candidates over the years. He’s had a long association with former President Bill Clinton.
Anderson was a star Democratic Party fundraiser and finance chairman for former California Gov. Gray Davis before he founded his lobbying, real estate and pension investment firms.
He led the group of local investors and philanthropists that bought The Press Democrat and its sibling publications in 2012. That parent company, Sonoma Media Investments, was sold in May 2025 to Denver-based MediaNews, part of Alden Global Capital, which owns or manages about 68 daily newspapers and more than 300 weekly publications throughout the United States.
You can reach Phil Barber at 707-521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @Skinny_Post.
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