The Giants still face allegations of memorabilia fraud, focusing on of all people quarterback Eli Manning. The case reportedly is set for trial in March, and a nugget emerged recently regarding key testimony harvested from Giants co-owner John Mara.
Via the New York Post, Mara admitted that, if he had seen an email referring to certain items of memorabilia as “BS ones,” Mara would have done something about it.
“I think if I had seen this prior to the lawsuit being filed, I would have asked about it or asked somebody about it,” Mara testified in a deposition.
Last year, two curious emails emerged regarding the case. In a 2010 message from quarterback Eli Manning to Giants equipment director Joe Skiba, Manning asks for “2 helmets that can pass as game used.” (The Giants have claimed that the email was taken out of context, without elaborating on the context.)
In a 2008 exchange with Skiba plaintiff Eric Isenberg asked whether an Eli Manning game-used helmet and jersey were “the ones eli asked you to make up because he didnt [sic] want to give up the real stuff?”
Said Skiba in response, “BS ones, you are correct.”
In a court document filed Friday, lawyers attacking the Giants and Manning claim that Mara didn’t ask anyone about the “BS ones” email after becoming aware of it within the context of the litigation because he didn’t want to know the answer to the question.
The Giants will need a compelling answer to the question of what those emails meant at trial, or it could end up being a huge mess for the team and for Manning.
For more on that and various other topics, check out Monday’s PFT PM podcast. (And for a free copy of Madden 18 for Xbox One, try this code . . . quickly: T97DF-F649W-MVD3V-D3HQC-PVGGZ.)