The Jets on Tuesday filed a countersuit against a former senior executive who sued the team last week, alleging she was part of an “unlawful conspiracy” to falsely accuse the team president of sexual harassment for the “sole … purpose of destroying his impeccable reputation and career.”
Elaine Chen, the team’s former vice president of finance, filed a lawsuit last week alleging marital discrimination when it fired her this summer in the aftermath of an anonymous email that accused team president Hymie Elhai of sexual harassment. Chen’s suit alleged that her husband, Larry Fitzpatrick, a former vice president of ticket sales, was fired in July an investigation into the anonymous email – which accused Elhai of sending inappropriate messages to multiple women on staff and other inappropriate behavior. In the suit, Chen alleged she was wrongly terminated days later because she was married to Fitzpatrick.
The Jets, in their 67-page response, alleged that Chen and Fitzpatrick worked with at least one unnamed former employee to fabricate the email, and tried to undermine the investigation by lying and deleting evidence of their involvement. The team claims the former employee who sent the anonymous email later confessed and implicated Fitzpatrick.
The team’s countersuit included claims of defamation and civil conspiracy, among several others, against Chen and Fitzpatrick. The team also alleged the former employees sought to harm the franchise by destabilizing its executive leadership “and publicly (and falsely) asserting that NYJ condones and encourages sexual harassment and misconduct.”
The Jets countersuit includes dozens of messages allegedly recovered from Fitzpatrick’s company issued phone after he was fired, including many that, according to the team, show Chen lied to investigators.
Chen, who denied any connection to the email in her lawsuit, accused the Jets of “targeting”
those who supported the allegations” and further investigation of Elhai.
Chen’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Jets are seeking damages and requesting she pay their legal fees as part of the countersuit.
In the countersuit, the team alleges it first became interested in Fitzpatrick’s involvement because he was one of the employees who received the anonymous email. Fitzpatrick allegedly denied seeing the email when asked by investigators. When he was told the Jets had a record of him receiving it, Fitzpatrick allegedly took out his phone and began “furiously tapping the top and bottom” of the screen, according to the filing. He allegedly told investigators he was texting his wife. The Jets claimed there were approximately 4,000 recently deleted messages on the phone, which they recovered from Fitzpatrick after the interview.
The Jets also claimed to find evidence of Fitzpatrick’s own misconduct on his company issued phone, including inappropriate messages to coworkers objectifying women, viewing and sharing explicit content on adult websites, and violating the NFL’s policy on gambling for team employees by participating in Super Bowl squares.
The Jets claim to show messages between Fitzpatrick and the former employee who sent the anonymous email in which they root for Elhai’s professional demise. They also claim to show exchanges between Fitzpatrick and Chen, in which Fitzpatrick purportedly tells his wife that he will forward her the email. According to the filing, Chen tells Fitzpatrick to “be careful” and when he confirms she read the email, she allegedly responded: “pretty brilliant.”
Chen claimed she only knew her husband had been sent the email, and claimed she was fired only because of her marriage to Fitzpatrick. The Jets claim she was fired for cause after their investigation.
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