Paging Mary Jo White.
The abrupt departure of team president Dan Ventrelle, announced by the team in a 17-word statement on Friday, has been followed with a much more detailed statement from Ventrelle. And Ventrelle has made accusations that most likely will result in the league ordering up another “independent” investigation by hardly-independent outside lawyer Mary Jo White.
Via Mick Akers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Ventrelle has made some strong allegations in his own comment on the situation.
“Today, Mark Davis terminated my employment as President of the Las Vegas Raiders,” Ventrelle said. “I have committed almost 18 years of my life to the success of the Raiders as General Counsel and President. I take that responsibility very seriously, which is why multiple written complaints from employees that Mark created a hostile work environment and engaged in other potential misconduct caused me grave concern.
“When Mark was confronted about these issues, he was dismissive and did not demonstrate the warranted level of concern. Given this, I informed the NFL of these issues and of Mark’s unacceptable response.
“Soon thereafter, I was fired in retaliation for raising these concerns. I firmly stand by my decision to elevate these issues to protect the organization and its female employees. I remain committed to doing everything in my power to support the Raiders and the Las Vegas community I now call home. I have retained counsel and will have no further comment at this time.”
If Ventrelle files suit, it’s likely if not certain that the Raiders will try to force the case into the NFL’s secret rigged kangaroo court, which will keep Ventrelle’s claims or the facts underlying the allegations of misconduct from becoming public. Regardless of where it goes from here, Ventrelle’s statement implies that multiple female employees made complaints about owner Mark Davis. Regardless of whatever happened to Ventrelle, the underlying allegations need to be fully and adequately explored.