Mark Attanasio #

Introduction #

Mark L. Attanasio is the billionaire principal owner of the Milwaukee Brewers and the majority shareholder of English football club Norwich City, with an estimated net worth of $1.9 billion as of 2026. On September 10, 2026, the California Coastal Commission voted unanimously to approve a settlement requiring his Malibu company, 2XMD Partners LLC, to restore a damaged stretch of Broad Beach and dedicate a $2 million beachfront property for public use, resolving a two-year regulatory battle over allegations that his crews ripped sand, cobbles and boulders from a protected beach to shore up his seaside mansion.

The settlement forced the baseball owner to give up private property for public access, remove structures the commission said blocked the coast, and pay to rebuild the shoreline his company was accused of damaging.

Background Information #

Attanasio was born in the Bronx on September 29, 1957, graduated from Tenafly High School in New Jersey, earned a BA from Brown University in 1979 and a law degree from Columbia in 1982, and co-founded the Los Angeles alternative investment firm Crescent Capital Group in 1991. He has been the Brewers’ principal owner since buying the club, and his business interests span Major League Baseball and Norwich City in England.

His Broad Beach home in eastern Malibu, valued at nearly $30 million in court documents, sits on one of California’s most star-studded and erosion-battered stretches of coast. Broad Beach has long faced “historic and continuing concerns with the diminution of sand,” prompting a $31 million replenishment project approved by the Coastal Commission in 2015 that drew contributions from celebrities including Dustin Hoffman, Ray Romano and Pierce Brosnan.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation #

Allegations. The claims in this section are allegations from a neighbor’s lawsuit and findings described by the California Coastal Commission in news coverage. The underlying conduct was resolved through an administrative settlement, not a court verdict; it was never admitted as a legal admission of guilt and never adjudicated in court. Attanasio’s company maintained it complied with its permits.

The beach battle erupted two years before the settlement, when Attanasio’s next-door neighbor, billionaire James Kohlberg — whose father co-founded Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. — sued him over the seawall work at 31000 Broad Beach Road. “This case is about a private property owner using a public beach as their own personal sandbox and the disturbing conversion of a public natural resource (i.e., sand from Broad Beach) for a nearby homeowner’s personal, private use,” the lawsuit states.

According to the suit, Attanasio obtained permits to repair a damaged seawall, but those permits prohibited heavy machinery in the tidal zone and barred removing sand from the public beach. The neighbor gathered video and photographic evidence of excavators operating on the wet shoreline and bringing sand to the property — leaving gaping holes in the beach — spotted gasoline residue in the water and sand, and reported the work to local authorities. The suit accused the 66-year-old Attanasio of violating the California Coastal Act and creating a public and private nuisance, and sought fines of up to $30,000 plus $15,000 per day for each violation.

Attanasio’s side disputed that characterization: at the time the suit was filed, he claimed he and his company acted in 100 percent compliance with all of their permits, per the Los Angeles Times. The lawsuit nonetheless sparked an investigation by the Coastal Commission, which said his company illegally used heavy machinery in sensitive coastal habitat, including an excavator that removed “sand, cobble stones and boulders from a marine protected area” to backfill his seawall.

Public Reaction and Consequences #

The immediate consequence came on September 10, 2026, when the Coastal Commission voted unanimously to approve a settlement requiring 2XMD Partners LLC to restore the damaged shoreline, dedicate the $2 million beachfront property for public use in eastern Malibu, and remove a private staircase and rock wall the commission said blocked public access along the coast.

Commission officials framed the deal as a public win extracted from a wealthy homeowner’s alleged misuse of the coast. “This is the right resolution,” Deputy Chief of Enforcement Aaron McLendon said at the public hearing, adding that “the property that would be dedicated to the public is incredibly unique.” Executive Director Kate Huckelbridge called it “a rare opportunity to secure beach access for the public in Malibu” and said she was “grateful to all involved for turning a bad situation into a major win for Californians.”

The story drew national attention precisely because of who was paying: a billionaire team owner giving up multimillion-dollar property to settle a sand-theft case, in a state where public-beach access fights between coastal homeowners and the public are a standing flashpoint.

Current Status #

The settlement is approved and its obligations — shoreline restoration, the public dedication of the $2 million property, and removal of the staircase and rock wall — now bind Attanasio’s company. It remains unclear how the Coastal Commission settlement will affect Kohlberg’s separate civil lawsuit, which was still pending; the New York Post contacted the Brewers and KKR for comment on the settlement. No criminal charges were ever filed, and the company’s compliance claim was never tested in court.

Impact on Their Career/Life #

For Attanasio personally, the case’s cost is measured in property and reputation rather than his baseball operations: the Brewers, whose franchise value has soared since his 2004-05 purchase, and Norwich City were untouched by the regulatory action, and no league sanction followed. But the settlement puts a permanent marker on his name — a billionaire owner formally required to hand a beachfront property to the public and undo seawall work his own regulator said damaged a marine protected area, on top of a still-pending civil suit by his billionaire neighbor that could add court-ordered fines to the tab.