Yeah she's trying to suck every penny/nickel/dime out of him.
The wife Jamie is the brains of the two. She's a succesful lawyer in her own right. He made his money on real estate, and she was able to find levers to allow them to pick up title cheap.
They acquired a series of warehouses and parking lots along Boston harbor across from the airport. It was adjacent to Boston's financial district and was on the route for the extension of I-90 (Mass Pike) out the airport. The properties right on the water were owned by a restauraneur, Anthony Athanas, who lost them to the Pritzker family (I think the are the people behind Hyatt). Add in a convention center, the Big Dig, and a gorgeous federal courthouse, and those parking lots and warehouse became worth a mint. They cut a few deals (threats to sue, other tactics) to consolidate into a single footprint.
The McCourts bid on the Red Sox and were going to build a new ballpark on their property (that I think was part of the consideration for the team). It looked like funny money in comparison to Henry / Werner -Ottem / Lucchino, who also had NY Times money, so the McCourts were not let into the club at the time, but when Fox wanted out of the Dodgers fast and real estate looked like a gold mine, all of a sudden their money looked good.
Jamie actually might be more able to get financial backing to buy out Frank, but Frank says hell no. Frank locked her out, and between being not too bright and poor cash flow, has been bleeding the team.