MSG Chairman: Thomas Accuser Tampered With Investigation
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The chairman of Madison Square Garden, James Dolan, testified yesterday that he fired one of his top executives after learning that she tried to get her subordinates to help build a sexual harassment case against New York Knicks Coach Isiah Thomas.
Mr. Dolan told a jury in U.S. District Court that another company executive told him that the MSG vice president, Anucha Browne Sander, tampered with an internal investigation of her discrimination claims by meeting with her employees and trying to persuade them to support her.
He said he was also told before the January 2006 firing that she was demanding $6 million not to lodge a harassment complaint.
Mr. Dolan said he had spared Ms. Browne Sanders from being fired six months earlier when a company executive said she was unable to take command of her department’s finances.
Mr. Dolan said he recommended that Ms. Browne Sanders undergo additional training to learn how to handle new management responsibilities. He said she had offered her resignation in late November 2005 and was supposed to be looking for a new job when he was told that she had interfered with the investigation.
