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U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins to Resign in Wake of Damning Ethics Reports – The Wall Street Journal
- U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins to Resign in Wake of Damning Ethics Reports The Wall Street Journal
- U.S. attorney in Massachusetts to resign amid ethics inquiry MSNBC
- US attorney in Massachusetts leaked sensitive information to journalist to influence political campaign and lied under oath, federal reports say CNN
- Rachael Rollins committed ‘an extraordinary abuse of her power,’ US Office of Special Counsel wrote to Biden Boston Herald
- Read the federal ethics investigation reports on Rachael Rollins Boston.com
- View Full Coverage on Google News
NWSL abuse report: Fans are outraged and players are exhausted after damning women’s soccer abuse report. Here’s what’s next
CNN
—
The United States Women’s National Team play England in a friendly at Wembley on Friday. But as the world champion takes on the European champion, back in the US, women’s professional soccer is reeling from an independent investigation that found systemic abuse and misconduct within the sport.
Players have been described as “horrified and heartbroken and frustrated and exhausted,” as harrowing details emerge from the report, according to Becky Sauerbrunn, one of the stalwarts of the US women’s national soccer team.
“It’s hard,” midfielder Lindsey Horan said Wednesday at a media availability in London. “We’re angry. We’re pissed off and personally I feel like in a weird spot just because you know, I learned new things in this investigation that I didn’t know before and I wanted to wait and read it for myself and to be a part of an organization that was in this is really hard for me.”
“This investigation came forward and obviously we’re thankful for that, but it took way too long. This whole thing was prolonged incredibly, and I sit here and I’m like, it’s not done. This is all over the world.”
US Women’s National Team (USWNT) star Megan Rapinoe reiterated that women soccer players are angry and exhausted, telling a press conference Thursday: “Those people are in positions that have responsibilities and they didn’t fulfill those responsibilities. They didn’t protect the players at all amidst year, after year, after year. I feel like it’s impossible to overstate that every single year someone said something about multiple coaches in the league about multiple different environments,” she said.
“None of those people have shown they deserve to be around this beautiful game.”
United States Women’s National Team defender Crystal Dunn added she hoped the report will be the turning point for the sport.
“I think this report coming out was kind of the nail in the coffin,” Dunn said at a press conference in London on Wednesday. “It’s going to allow a lot of accountability that hasn’t really taken place and I think I am quite hopeful that the healing phase can now really take place.”
The report, led by former acting attorney general Sally Q. Yates, was based on more than 200 interviews and revealed the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) under the US Soccer Federation (USSF) failed to provide a safe environment for players.
US Soccer initiated its investigation a year ago by hiring Yates and the legal firm King and Spalding to review allegations, conduct interviews, and recommend solutions.
The federation says it gave Yates and the firm full autonomy and access in order to produce a complete, independent report.
Last year the 12-team NWSL was thrown into chaos following a report by The Athletic detailing allegations of sexual coercion and misconduct against Paul Riley, who coached three NWSL franchises over eight seasons.
He was fired by the North Carolina Courage after The Athletic cited players on the record alleging that for years, Riley used his influence and power to sexually harass players and in one incident, coerce a player into having sex with him.
Riley denied the accusations in the report. CNN has not been able to reach Riley for comment.
By the end of the season, “half of the league’s teams had parted ways” with their coaches after player complaints, the Yates report notes.
The Yates report features submitted first-hand accounts from players who describe alleged abuses from head coaches as well as team management.
Monday’s report states that sexual misconduct and abuse was far more widespread than just one coach or incident, but centers on allegations of sexual misconduct by coaches Riley, Rory Dames and Christy Holly, and the alleged failure of executives to investigate or act.The report further states that while their findings focus on the three named coaches, the three were “not the only coaches who mistreated players.”
Paul Riley was fired by the North Carolina Courage after The Athletic cited players on the record alleging that for years, Riley used his influence and power to sexually harass players and in one incident, coerce a player into having sex with him.
“Paul Riley’s abuse was prolonged and wide-ranging. It spanned multiple leagues, teams, and players. It included emotional misconduct, abuse of power, and sexual misconduct,” the report says. Before coaching the Courage, Riley had coached two other NWSL teams – the Portland Thorns and the Western New York Flash.
Investigators found that Riley’s conduct was “generally ignored or accepted” until The Athletic reports emerged.
The report corroborated accounts made by players to The Athletic, and “found evidence that they were not alone.”
The report found that in 2015, a player reported Riley to the Portland Thorns and the league for sexual misconduct.
After a one-week investigation, the Thorns terminated him citing “violations of several provisions of Riley’s employment contract for cause,” including “gross negligence or wilful misconduct” in performing his duties, Yates found, citing a letter from Thorns’ general manager.
The Thorns did not make this information public, the Yates report found, instead saying that Riley would “not be retained” for the 2016 season and thanked him for his service. Soon afterwards, Riley took another coaching job in the league.
In response to The Athletic’s 2021 reporting, Riley responded to a list of questions about his alleged conduct with an email where he stated that the majority of the allegations are “completely untrue.”
Christy Holly was fired from Racing Louisville after the team determined that he had engaged in long-term and egregious sexual misconduct against a player, according to the report – though at the time, the team merely said they fired him “for cause.”
Holly’s behavior, which allegedly began before his stint at Racing Louisville and carried on in the time he spent with the team, included unwanted sexual contact, coercive text messages, abuse of power, and retaliation, according to the report.
One player who trained with Holly during her off-season, Erin Simon, according to the report, said Holly sent her inappropriate texts, including photographs of his penis and a video of himself masturbating, and asked her to send sexual pictures and a video of herself back, which she said she felt “guilted” into doing, with Holly constantly telling her to “loosen up,” and insisting that having “fun” with him would improve her performance on the field.
When he was her coach at Racing Louisville, Simon said that Holly invited her to his house to watch game film, but instead showed her pornography, touched her, told her he wanted to have a threesome with her and another former player, and masturbated in front of her, forcing her to touch his penis, Yates’ report says.
According to the report, in another incident, after being called over by Holly to watch game footage together, Simon recalled that during this session, Holly told her he was going to touch her “for every pass [she] f**ked up.” Simon said that he pushed his hands down her pants and up her shirt as she tried to cross her legs and push him away, laughing in the meantime so as not to anger him.
CNN has been unable to reach Holly for comment.
According to the report, Holly admitted that he lost his job at Louisville due to his “unique” relationship with Erin Simon.
“He admitted to texting Simon, including sending and soliciting sexual photos. But he denied that any sexual conduct continued at Racing Louisville,” the report added.
Racing Louisville FC said in a statement Wednesday that the Yates report “served as a harsh reminder that appointing Christy Holly as Racing Louisville FC’s first coach was a mistake. We have learned from that mistake, and we apologize to Erin Simon, to our players past and present and to our fans,” they added.
They added “while our former coach was terminated within 24 hours of us being alerted to the behavior, we know that wasn’t enough and that we failed our locker room by creating a space where this behavior could occur.
“We have worked hard every day since then to ensure a safe environment that puts players in a position to succeed. This includes implementation of club-wide anonymous reporting services and a re-evaluated hiring process for staff.”
In the report, Yates noted that while Dames had a reputation for developing successful players and teams, he was “equally renowned for his tirades against the young girls who played for him.”
Dames was the former head coach for the Chicago Red Stars and is the current owner and former president and coach of the Eclipse Select Soccer Club, an elite youth soccer organization of boys’ and girls’ teams in suburban Chicago.
The report concludes that “Dames created a sexualized team environment and verbally and emotionally abused players and staff,” and allegedly “made inappropriate sexual and suggestive remarks to youth female players, asked about their boyfriends and sex lives, and sought information about their personal lives.”
One player’s allegations “recounted an instance where Dames gave her a ride after practice and ‘ask[ed] me all kinds of questions about sex … and wouldn’t take me home until I answered the questions,’” while another alleged Dames would “give girls tips on sex” and say things like: “you should be shaved and bare down there,” and “I hope you are giving your boyfriend a good time.”
A sports psychologist asserted that Dames created “a culture of fear” and was emotionally and verbally abusive, with players describing him as “condescending,” “manipulative,” “aggressive,” “insulting,” and “an intimidator,” the report noted.
Dames denies engaging in any misconduct as a coach, sexual or otherwise, according to his lawyer.
“He will address the misstatements of fact and false and defamatory statements in the report but his hands are tied at this time as U.S. Soccer referred all of the matters in the Yates’ report to SafeSport. Upon advice of counsel, Mr. Dames has declined to discuss these matters publicly in any detail,” said his lawyer.
The damning report found that verbal and emotional abuse and sexual misconduct – had become systemic in the NWSL, with many teams and coaches implicated, and with numerous victims.
“Abuse in the NWSL is rooted in a deeper culture in women’s soccer, beginning in youth leagues, that normalizes verbally abusive coaching and blurs boundaries between coaches and players.”
This, investigators noted, was worsened because league owners and the federation “did not institute the most basic of workplace protections.”
For most of the league’s existence, it has had no anti-harassment policy, no anti-retaliation policy and no anti-fraternization policy, the scathing report noted.
Meanwhile, for the most part, the league did not have ways for players to report inappropriate behavior, while teams generally lacked human resource departments and didn’t perform adequate checks when hiring coaches.
National Women’s Soccer League commissioner Jessica Berman issued a statement Tuesday saying the league is committed to “implementing reform and disciplinary action” based on the Yates report and the findings of the league and union’s ongoing investigation.
“We have asked the Joint Investigative Team to consider the recommendations set forth in the Yates Report when making their recommendations to the NWSL. Moreover, we have asked the Joint Investigative Team to review – and investigate as necessary – the findings in the Yates Report when concluding their report,” the NWSL added in a statement sent to CNN Thursday.
The report noted that high-ups in soccer failed to properly investigate or make public reports of abuse by coaches, allowing them to move to other teams.
“Teams, the League, and the Federation not only repeatedly failed to respond appropriately when confronted with player reports and evidence of abuse, they also failed to institute basic
measures to prevent and address it, even as some leaders privately acknowledged the need for workplace protections,” the report noted.
“As a result, abusive coaches moved from team to team, laundered by press releases thanking them for their service, and positive references from teams that minimized or even concealed misconduct. Those at the NWSL and USSF in a position to correct the record stayed silent.
“In general, teams, the NWSL, and USSF appear to have prioritized concerns of legal exposure to litigation by coaches—and the risk of drawing negative attention to the team or League—over player safety and well-being,” the report noted.
CNN has reached out to U.S. Soccer and the NWSL for comment on these specific allegations.
U.S. Soccer referred CNN to its previous statements, where it committed to addressing the report’s recommendations and said it would, among many steps, establish a new Office of Participant Safety to oversee U.S. Soccer’s conduct policies and reporting mechanisms; publish soccer records from SafeSport’s centralized disciplinary database to publicly identify individuals in the sport who have been disciplined, suspended or banned; and mandate a uniform minimum standard for background checks for all U.S. Soccer members at every level of the game.
In her report, Yates noted that some teams didn’t fully cooperate with investigators, despite releasing statements which suggested otherwise.
“The Portland Thorns interfered with our access to relevant witnesses and raised specious legal arguments in an attempt to impede our use of relevant documents,” the report noted.
“Racing Louisville FC refused to produce documents concerning Christy Holly and would not permit witnesses (even former employees) to answer relevant questions regarding Holly’s tenure, citing non-disclosure and non-disparagement agreements it signed with Holly.
“The Chicago Red Stars unnecessarily delayed the production of relevant documents over the course of nearly nine months,” investigators noted.
CNN has reached out to Racing Louisville FC, the Chicago Red Stars and the Portland Thorns for comment.
Portland Thorns FC and Portland Timbers’ president of soccer Gavin Wilkinson and president of business Mike Golub have been fired, the organization said on Wednesday, while Thorns and Timbers’ club owner Merritt Paulson announced on Tuesday that he was removing himself immediately from all team-related decision making until the findings of an the investigation being conducted by the NWSL and the players union (NWSLPA) are released.
In his Tuesday statement, Paulson apologized for his organization’s role in “a gross systemic failure to protect player safety and the missteps we made in 2015.”
The allegations have drawn fierce criticism from players.
Becky Sauerbrunn, one of the stalwarts of the US women’s national soccer team, said Tuesday that players are angry and want immediate changes.
“The players are not doing well. We are horrified and heartbroken and frustrated and exhausted. And we are really, really angry. We are angry that it took a third-party investigation,” Sauerbrunn stated at the beginning of a scheduled press conference on Tuesday.
The two-time World Cup winner added that “people in authority and decision-making positions have repeatedly failed to protect us.”
Sauerbrunn, a 10-year NWSL veteran who is in her third season with the Portland Thorns, continued, “Every owner and executive and US Soccer official who repeatedly failed the players and failed to protect the players, who have hidden behind legalities and have not participated fully in these investigations, should be gone.
“At the bare minimum, the recommendations that are in the Sally Yates report should be immediately implemented by US Soccer and by the league (NWSL).”
Fan groups for the Portland Thorns and the men’s team, the Portland Timbers, say they have suspended ties with the two teams in response to the revelations made about team management in the report.
In a statement posted on Twitter on Tuesday, the supporter groups known collectively as 107IST, said “While we were prepared for the worst, nothing prepared us for what was contained in the USSF/ Sally Yates report.
“It’s time to build a bonfire,” they said, calling for changes in key leadership positions.
The league said Monday it would review the findings, and that its own investigation in conjunction with the players’ union is ongoing. That investigation is expected to be released in November.
National Women’s Soccer League commissioner Jessica Berman issued a statement Tuesday updating the status of a joint investigation being conducted by the league and players union (NWSLPA) after owners of the Portland Thorns and Chicago Red Stars each said they would step back from their respective clubs.
Both franchises are named in the report. “The NWSL is supportive of the important steps taken by the Portland Thorns and Chicago Red Stars today,” Berman said in a written statement.
She also said the league is committed to “implementing reform and disciplinary action” based on the Yates report and the findings of the league and union’s ongoing investigation.
“While it will take time, we are fully prepared to take the necessary steps to protect the health and safety of our players, staff and other stakeholders in order to create the League that our players, fans, partners and staff deserve and expect,” she said.
Embattled chess star Hans Niemann breaks silence after damning cheating allegations
American chess player Hans Niemann broke his silence Wednesday after he was accused in an investigation of cheating 100 times more than he previously admitted in online matches.
The Chess.com report that implicated Niemann came out before his first match at the U.S. Championship, which is an over-the-board tournament.
Video from the event showed the 19-year-old being scanned around his backside and even on the snacks he brought for the day.
Niemann had been accused of using devices to help him cheat in matches, including anal beads. He defeated Christopher Yoo in his first-round match.
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Hans Niemann said Oct. 5 he “won’t back down,” after the chess platform Chess.com reported he has “probably cheated more than 100 times” in online games.
(Tim Vizer/AFP via Getty Images)
He then spoke briefly about the Chess.com report after the match.
“I think that this game is a message to everyone,” he told the Saint Louis Chess Club. “This entire thing started with me saying chess speaks for itself. And I think that this game spoke for itself and showed the chess player that I am and also showed that I’m not going to back down. And I’m going to play my best chess here regardless of the pressure that I’m under. And that’s all I have to say about this game. Chess speaks for itself is all I can say.”
He cut the interview short after about 50 seconds.
A Chess.com report implicated Hans Niemann in a cheating scandal.
(Tim Vizer/AFP via Getty Images)
MAGNUS CARLSEN RIPS HANS NIEMANN IN LATEST CHAPTER OF CHESS FEUD, ACCUSES HIM OF CHEATING
Chess24 noted that Niemann’s “chess speaks for itself” quip was reminiscent of his flare-up with Magnus Carlsen in Miami at the FTX Crypto Cup. After beating Carlsen in one match, Niemann told a reporter outside the playing area, “The chess speaks for itself.”
Carlsen, the No. 1 chess player in the world, flatly accused Niemann of cheating late last month. On Monday, Chess.com released its report.
Chess.com, an online platform with which anyone can play the game and study the rules and strategy, shared a report of its investigation with the Wall Street Journal. The report indicated Niemann “likely received illegal assistance in more than 100 online games” and as recently as 2020.
U.S. international grandmaster Hans Niemann waits his turn to move during a second-round chess game against Jeffery Xiong on the second day of the Saint Louis Chess Club Fall Chess Classic in St. Louis, Missouri, Oct. 6, 2022.
(Tim Vizer/AFP via Getty Images)
Some of the matches Niemann was accused to have cheated in involved prize money. Niemann reportedly admitted to the allegations and was banned from Chess.com for a period of time.
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Chess.com didn’t say whether Niemann had cheated in over-the-board contests. The website has cheating-detection tools and hasn’t been involved with any type of cheating detection for over-the-board games, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Trump envoy releases letter from National Archives deemed ‘extraordinary damning’ for Trump
The National Archives and Records Administration waited until May 12 to give the FBI access to the highly classified documents retrieved from former President Donald Trump in January, despite the Justice Department’s “urgent” requests for the materials, according to a letter from National Archivist Debra Wall released late Monday by conservative journalist John Solomon, one of Trump’s two authorized NARA liaisons.
The May 10 letter to Trump’s lawyers also affirms that the National Archives found more than 700 pages of classified documents, including “special access program materials” — among the most highly classified secretes in government — in the 15 boxes recovered from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago complex. More classified material was taken from Mar-a-Lago by the FBI in June and August.
Much of the letter covers Wall’s rejection of a request by Trump’s lawyers to shield the documents from the FBI on executive privilege grounds. The White House counsel said President Biden “defers to my determination,” Wall wrote, and after discussions with the Office of Legal Counsel, “the question in this case is not a close one.”
“The executive branch here is seeking access to records belonging to, and in the custody of, the federal government itself,” Wall wrote, “not only in order to investigate whether those records were handled in an unlawful manner but also, as the National Security Division explained, to ‘conduct an assessment of the potential damage resulting from the apparent manner in which these materials were stored and transported and take any necessary remedial steps.'”
The letter released by Trump’s team is “extraordinarily damning for Trump” and his team, Politico‘s Kyle Cheney marveled on Twitter. “Trump allies pointed to this letter as some kind of evidence of Biden White House meddling,” but “what it shows is officials expressing extreme alarm about national security damage based on records being held by Trump.”
The NARA letter is “damning” to Trump “on any number of levels,” including its “lack of any reference to a claim by Trump’s representatives that he had declassified any of the classified materials,” adds University of Texas law professor Steve Vladeck. “It’s also telling that, even though this letter really hurts the Trump version of events, it wasn’t released by the Biden Administration or NARA. It was released by Trump’s own team — both a self-inflicted wound and further proof of how the government has been playing by the rules.”
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Sue Gray ‘Partygate’ report: Boris Johnson’s staff got drunk, brawled and abused cleaners during Covid lockdowns, damning report finds
Johnson is facing a battle to save his premiership after the report published on Wednesday by senior civil servant Sue Gray criticized a culture of rule-breaking events, and revealed new photographs of him at two separate gatherings.
Gray wrote that “the senior leadership at the centre” of Johnson’s administration “must bear responsibility” for a culture that allowed the parties to take place.
She added there is “no excuse for some of the behaviour” she investigated, which included “excessive alcohol consumption.” Logs of email exchanges were also featured, including some where staff openly discussed hiding their partying from the media.
The report probed 16 events that took place at the heart of government while the United Kingdom was living under strict Covid-19 restrictions.
A picture of Johnson raising a can of beer at a birthday party thrown in his honor was included in the dossier, alongside more images of Johnson at another event.
Speaking in Parliament moments after the report was published, Johnson said he was “humbled” and has “learned my lesson,” adding: “I take full responsibility for everything that took place on my watch.”
But he also repeated previous claims that parties only escalated after he left, and insisted he was “surprised and disappointed” that several drink-fueled events took place.
And he suggested that the cramped quarters of the government buildings and the “extremely long hours” of his staff responding to the Covid-19 crisis could explain why several parties and social events took place.
“I briefly attended such gatherings to thank them for their service, which I believe is one of the essential duties of leadership,” Johnson said.
The report raises serious questions about whether Johnson misled lawmakers when previously denying parties took place.
He was savaged by opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer, who said the inquest “provides definitive proof of how those within the building treated the sacrifices of the British people with utter contempt.”
“This report will stand as a monument to the hubris and the arrogance of a government that believed it was one rule for them, and another rule for everyone else,” Starmer said.
“You cannot be a lawmaker and a law-breaker. It’s time to pack his bags.”
Staff told to bring booze and avoid media
Gray also found that Johnson attended a garden party in May 2020 for around half an hour, where approximately “30-40 people” were present.
An invitation to that event told staff of “socially distanced drinks” in the Downing Street garden, open to “whoever is in your office.”
“Could you also suggest they bring their own booze! Not sure we will have enough,” the email from Martin Reynolds, Johnson’s principal private secretary, said, according to the report. The next day, Reynolds noted the media had not reported on the party, writing to a colleague: “We seem to have got away with (it).”
In one email exchange, staff were told to avoid “walking around waving bottles of wine” while media were in the building, and to keep the sound down at gatherings when a Covid-19 ministerial press conference was taking place.
Some staff felt uncomfortable at the behavior inside Number 10 but feared raising the issue, Gray found. And on other occasions, custodial staff were treated poorly by those involved in events.
“I was made aware of multiple examples of a lack of respect and poor treatment of security and cleaning staff. This was unacceptable,” she wrote.
And Gray hinted that Downing Street officials had been unwilling to provide information about the parties, writing: “It was also unfortunately the case that details of some events only became known to me and my team through reporting in the media. This is disappointing.”
Johnson’s time in office has been derailed by the months-long scandal dubbed “Partygate” by the British media. He initially denied any events had taken place, but 16 were subsequently investigated by Gray, 12 were probed by the police and Johnson himself was fined by officers for attending one.
On the eve of the report’s release, ITV News published photographs of Johnson raising a glass with several of his colleagues at a leaving event in November 2020, when indoor mixing was banned.
Johnson is set to address the House of Commons later on Wednesday. Some of the lawmakers in his own Conservative party have joined opposition calls for him to resign in recent weeks, and he will now have to convince his colleagues to stand by him despite the slew of allegations and Gray’s damning inquiry.
Julian Reichelt: Bild editor fired by German media group after damning press reports
“Axel Springer SE has relieved Bild editor-in-chief Julian Reichelt of his duties with immediate effect,” the company said in a statement. “As a result of press investigations, the company gained new knowledge in the last few days” about his “recent conduct.”
The publisher employs more than 16,000 people around the world and is aggressively expanding into new markets, including the United States. It commissioned a law firm to conduct an investigation into Reichelt’s conduct earlier this year, but reinstated him after determining that he had not committed fireable offenses.
Now, however, Axel Springer says that “new evidence of current misconduct by Julian Reichelt has come to the company’s attention in the last few days.” Eric F. Phillips, senior vice president at public relations firm Edelman, and a spokesperson for Axel Springer, declined to elaborate on this misconduct in response to a CNN inquiry.
“As the executive board has learned,” the Axel Springer statement read, “Julian Reichelt still fails to maintain a clear boundary between private and professional matters and has also been untruthful to the executive board in this regard. The executive board therefore considers the termination of his office to be unavoidable.”
Bild is Europe’s largest daily newspaper and the publisher’s crown jewel. But Axel Springer has sought to expand its digital presence in recent years, especially in the United States, through the acquisition of Business Insider — now called Insider — and newsletter producer Morning Brew. Its $1 billion takeover of Politico is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021.
In 2019, US private equity giant KKR took Axel Springer private in a deal that valued the publisher at €6.8 billion ($7.2 billion).
Now the spotlight is on workplace culture at its flagship publication in Germany.
The New York Times on Sunday published a story on Reichelt’s alleged abuse of power with female employees. Among the allegations are that Reichelt was in a relationship with a junior employee, whom he promoted beyond what she thought was appropriate, and “continued to summon her to hotel rooms,” the Times reported, citing a transcript of testimony the woman gave to the law firm conducting the investigation.
CNN cannot independently verify the Times’ reporting and has reached out to Reichelt for comment.
Following that internal investigation earlier this year, Reichelt admitted mistakes, according to a statement reported by Reuters. “I know that I made mistakes in my behaviour towards colleagues and I cannot and will not gloss over it,” Reichelt said in March, according to Reuters. “The main thing I blame myself for is that I hurt people for whom I am responsible. I am very sorry about that.”
In the statement Monday, Axel Springer said that “the compliance investigation against Julian Reichelt never included any allegations of sexual harassment or sexual assault.”
“There were, however, allegations of consensual intimate relationships with female Bild employees and indications of abuse of power in that connection. A past relationship with a female Bild employee has been proven and admitted. It remains disputed whether that employee benefited in her career as a result.”
CNN does not know the identity of that employee.
The statement said that after the inquiry earlier this year, the Board determined that Reichelt “had made mistakes, [but] these were not mistakes of an unforgivable nature.”
It decided at the time that “mistakes that would have justified an immediate parting of ways were not proven,” and had decided to give him a “second chance.”
The company says it is also taking legal action against “third parties” who leaked confidential transcripts, “business secrets and private communications.” The company’s statement did not specify who the legal actions were against.
They acted, the statement said, “to influence and instrumentalize the spring compliance investigation by unlawful means, evidently with the aim of removing Julian Reichelt from office as well as damaging Bild and Axel Springer.”
— Inke Kappeler contributed reporting from Berlin.