“We will affirm the NFL engaged former [Securities and Exchange Commission] chair Mary Jo White in February to look into allegations made by Hue Jackson in opposition to the Cleveland Browns,” a league spokesperson instructed CNN on Monday.
In early February, Jackson — who was the Browns’ head coach from 2016 to his firing in the course of the 2018 season and who’s at present the top coach of Grambling State College — had made feedback on social media implying he was paid to lose video games when he was the Browns’ head coach.
Jackson had made the allegations after former Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores filed a discrimination class-action lawsuit in opposition to the NFL and three groups.
Former Arizona Cardinals head coach Steve Wilks and longtime NFL assistant coach Ray Horton added themselves to the lawsuit this month in opposition to the league, Dolphins, Denver Broncos and New York Giants — and the Cardinals, Tennessee Titans and Houston Texans have been added to the swimsuit as a part of the modification as nicely.
Within the lawsuit Flores alleges, amongst different issues, Dolphins proprietor Stephen Ross provided to pay him to purposely lose video games in an effort to get hold of a greater NFL draft place and inspired Flores to purposely violate league tampering guidelines.
Ross and the Dolphins have denied the allegations.
In a subsequent unique with the Knoxville Information Sentinel in early February, Browns proprietor Jimmy Haslam mentioned: “Unequivocally, Hue Jackson was by no means paid to lose video games. That’s an absolute falsehood.”
After Jackson’s preliminary claims on social media, he instructed CNN on February 4 he was not paid to lose video games however thinks his scenario has some similarities to Flores’.
He instructed CNN on February 5 the Browns had a “four-year plan that was put in place to incentivize not profitable” and that the plan was to win within the final two years of that span.
In response to the claims, the crew launched a press release attributed to a Browns spokesperson which learn: “Though Hue recanted his allegations a short while after they have been made, it was necessary to us and to the integrity of the sport to have an impartial evaluation of the allegations.
“We welcomed an investigation and we’re assured the outcomes will present, as we have beforehand acknowledged, that these allegations are categorically false. We’ve totally cooperated with Mary Jo White and look ahead to the findings.”
In an article posted Monday, Jackson instructed Sports activities Illustrated: “Two years in the past I attempted to do that the precise approach, by means of the bylaws and structure of the Nationwide Soccer League, to ask them to analyze the Cleveland Browns for all of the allegations that I’ve made. So why open an investigation now?”
