Vanessa Bryant Donating Proceeds From Her Case

The money from the judgment Vanessa Bryant won Wednesday will benefit the foundation named for her late husband and daughter. Bryant, who won the $16 million judgment in her case against Los Angeles County following the deaths of Kobe Bryant and daughter Gianna, 13, in a 2020 helicopter crash, announced that the proceeds will go to the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation, the Los Angeles Times reports. The nonprofit organization was launched in 2016 to offer sports education to underserved athletes, and was renamed after Kobe and his daughter, a rising basketball star, died. Vanessa Bryant says she now wants "to shine a light on Kobe and Gigi's legacy."

The county was ordered to pay the money (plus $15 million to a man who lost his daughter and wife in the crash) due to the distress caused by photos of the victims' bodies at the crash site that were taken and shared by first responders. "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," Bryant's attorney says in a statement. "Those measures are the responsibility of the sheriff’s and fire departments—responsibilities that Mrs. Bryant’s efforts have exposed as woefully deficient." (More Vanessa Bryant stories.)