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Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has agreed to pay $ 10 million to women's organizations, but will not be subject to harassment and violence against women in the organization. .
The NBA launched an investigation seven months ago following a Sports Illustrated report in February that described "a misogynist corporate culture and predatory sexual behavior." left the Mavs in 2015.
On Wednesday, the NBA responded to the findings of an outside law firm that interviewed 215 Mavericks employees, past and present, and reviewed more than 1.6 million documents, e-mails and text messages.
"The findings of the independent inquiry are troubling and distressing and no NBA employee, or any other workplace, should be subjected to the type of work environment described in the report," Silver said. a statement. "We appreciate the fact that Mark Cuban responded quickly, thoroughly and transparently to the claims presented for the first time in Sports Illustrated – including the immediate hiring of Cynthia Marshall as CEO to make changes."
Marshall, the former vice president of human resources and head of diversity at AT & T, was hired as the new CEO of the Mavericks on February 26, five days after the IS report.
The investigation revealed that there had been "inappropriate conduct at the workplace" with respect to 15 Ussery employees, including inappropriate comments, touching and forced kisses. Chris Hyde, a former ticket sales employee, also demonstrated inappropriate conduct in the workplace, including inappropriate comments about sexual women and viewing and sharing images and videos. pornographic.
While saying there was no misdeeds on the part of Cuba, the NBA said Cuban did not pay enough attention to the corporate culture within the Mavericks organization.
"As Mark has acknowledged, he is responsible for the culture and conduct of his employees," Silver said. "While nothing can repair the harm done by some former Maverick employees, the workplace reforms and the $ 10 million that Mark has agreed to contribute are important steps toward rectifying this past behavior and highlighting a failure. Societal widespread the inability of too many organizations to create a safe and welcoming workplace for women. "
Cuba's $ 10 million donation will be donated to organizations that promote leadership and development of women in sport, as well as those that fight domestic violence, the team said.
The maximum fine that the NBA office can charge is $ 2.5 million.
The Mavericks convened a press conference at 4:15 pm and Wednesday with Marshall and Anne Milgram, who led the investigation that included New York-based Krutoy Law.
In the IS report, Ussery was accused of multiple acts of inappropriate behavior, including inappropriate sexual comments and touching, towards employees during its 18 years within the team. Employees say that the complaints were ignored by the human resources manager and by the superiors. Ussery, which was investigated by the team after similar claims in 1998, dismissed the allegations.
Ussery was hired by the Mavericks before Cuba bought the majority of the team in January 2000.
Cuban told SI that he fired human resources director Buddy Pittman after learning the details of the magazine's report, including allegations that superiors had not responded to complaints.
The IS report stated that the reporter of the team's website, Earl Sneed, had been twice charged with assault while he was working for the Mavericks, including a plea of guilty in a dismissed case. Sneed was also fired in February and Cuban told ESPN that He was solely responsible for keeping Sneed on staff after learning of the second incident, which was reported to Pittman in 2014.
At the time of the IS report, Cuban said that he was not aware of the "horrible details" of the first incident in 2011 that had resulted in Sneed's arrest at the office of the Mavericks.
Under Marshall, the Mavericks have since implemented a 100-day plan by reorganizing the team's code of conduct, offering employees on-the-job training and reinforcing a zero tolerance policy.
She also promoted six women to senior positions within the organization, where there had been none prior to Marshall's arrival.
Tim MacMahon of ESPN contributed to this report.
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