Dysfunctional teams do dysfunctional things. They also find themselves in the middle of all sorts of dysfunction unrelated to wins and losses.
The New York Jets have been sued by Elaine Chen, the team’s former V.P. of finance. She and her husband Larry Fitzpatrick, the team’s former V.P. of ticket sales, were fired by the team.
The two versions laid out by Chen’s lawsuit and the team’s response couldn’t be more different.
Chen claims she was fired in retaliation for supporting internal allegations of misconduct made against team president Hymie Elhai in an anonymous email that accused him of, via ESPN.com, “[sending inappropriate text messages to female employees](https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/46480490/jets-sued-former-executive-alleged-retaliation), as well as other incidents of misconduct.” The Jets claim, per TheAthletic.com, that Chen and her husband, Larry Fitzpatrick, were [fired for participating](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6687401/2025/10/03/jets-lawsuit-retaliation-sexual-misconduct-investigation/) in a “conspiracy” relating to the allegedly “fabricated email.”
The Jets also contend that Fitzpatrick obstructed the internal investigation by deleting more than 4,000 text messages, some of which allegedly outlined the scheme against Elhai and implicated Chen.
Per the _Bergen Record_, via ESPN.com, the Jets contend that a former employee responsible for the anonymous email admitted during an internal investigation that the allegations against Elhai were false, and that the former employee “worked with Fitzpatrick to facilitate the email.”
The Jets also said in a statement that they plan to sue Chen, Fitzpatrick, and others for defamation.
Regardless of how it plays out, the organization now finds itself in a mess that will be expensive, distracting, and embarrassing. If Chen is accurate, the Jets covered up legitimate claims against Elhai by concocting a convoluted argument and targeting multiple employees who supported the notion that Elhai had engaged in wrongdoing. If the Jets are accurate, a pair of employees who had been entrusted with V.P.-level roles hatched a haphazard scheme to target Elhai for scrutiny and, presumably, termination.
Normally functioning businesses don’t find themselves in such situations. And when such situations arise, normally functioning businesses come up with a strategy for resolving them before they become public spectacles.
How would they do that? By negotiating severance agreements that provide extra compensation to the employees in exchange for ironclad waivers of legal claims. The end result becomes no lawsuits. No reports on lawsuits. No depositions. No legal fees. No otherwise productive time for Elhai and others wasted on preparing to testify or strategizing over how best to secure one or more victories in court.
Internal disputes are always best kept internal. A desire for vindication or revenge takes a back seat to keeping any and all dirty laundry where it belongs.
Really, what do the Jets get if they prevail in court? The best-case scenario is that multiple employees, including a pair of executives, became sufficiently disillusioned with Elhai that they cooked up a phony attack against him. The worst-case scenario is that the Jets lose, with the allegations against Elhai essentially being confirmed in open court.
Through it all, every dollar that would have been devoted to settling any and all potential legal claims against the team (and then some) will be spent on lawyers.
The mere fact that multiple reports regarding this specific issue emerged on Friday is proof that the Jets have mishandled the situation. And it’s another piece of evidence that provides a dotted line connecting the overall operation of the franchise with the football team’s chronic and ongoing struggles to win more football games than it loses.