"Le" or "Les"

"Le" or "Les"
 

They are taking everything away from his business partners

Le están quitando todo a sus socios comerciales/de negocios
Les están quitando todo a sus socios comerciales/de negocios

Do I need to use “le” or “les”?

Is it refering to “todo” or “socios”?

Is “le” or “les” even necessary in the sentence above?

Thank you for any explanation you can give me.

The model for the structure in question is quitarle algo a alguien.
It means take something (away) from someone.

The 'something' is the direct object. This object is taken 'from someone,' which serves as the indirect object.

In your sentence, todo is the direct object. The indirect object is socios. Therefore, the indirect object pronoun should be les.

Since the indirect object is explicitly provided, the indirect object pronoun isn't required. However, both may be present.

Thanks, Rusty. That's a great explanation. It's totally clear to me now.

I agree with Rusty. The right pronoun is "les", but (at least in Mexico) you will often find "le" in sentences like this one.