Earlier today, a Boston attorney claimed that he investigated six months ago claims against Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in Las Vegas that were “absolutely identical” to the Georgia allegations that recently were resolved via an announcement that there will be no prosecution. Harry Manion also indicated in an appearance on WEEI that there were others, too.
“There’s a whole litany here, not only my experience, I have connected with several other people that have experience,” Manion said. “And you know, there’s only so far that he said/she said will get you. There’s only so far that paying hush money will get you, if hush money is paid.”
Now, Manion is singing a different tune. It started with an e-mail from Manion’s office to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “Mr. Manion did not mean to express or imply that he has any information that Mr. Roethlisberger engaged in any illegal behavior.”
Sure, maybe he didn’t mean to express or imply anything. But he sure as hell did.
Manion later elaborated directly. “I don’t have any details at all,” Manion told the Post-Gazette. “I was retained by a family. It went nowhere. I have no specifics. All I know is it involved an evening with Ben Roethlisberger, and I never got any of the details. I offered it [on the radio show] only because it was such a similar situation -- a young woman at a nightclub asked, invited into a VIP area.”
In other words, even guys with advanced degrees aren’t immune from the misguided belief that the words uttered on a radio show evaporate permanently into the ether, never to be heard from again.