Jets uncover “disturbing” conspiracy as ex-executive allegedly plots fake sexual harassment claims against president Hymie Elhai: Report

New York Jets president Hymie Elhai is one of the subjects of a brewing legal battle between the club and a couple of ex-employees. A former executive of the franchise, Elaine Chen, filed a suit against the Jets in New Jersey court alleging she was unlawfully fired.

According to Chen’s suit, the franchise fired her following her husband Larry Fitzpatrick’s revelation to team investigators that Elhai had harassed female employees sexually. Also a Jets employee, Fitzpatrick had been fired days before Chen got fired in July. Chen argues that the franchise fired her wrongfully because of her relationship with Fitzpatrick.

In the background of the conflict is an anonymous email sent to Jets executives on Jul. 10, which the franchise has claimed contained baseless allegations. The email, according to the Jets, lacked details of the alleged sexual harassment, leading the team to label it suspicious. Furthermore, it claims Hymie Elhai had never previously been a subject of “concerns or issues.”

Nevertheless, the team launched an investigation into the allegations, discovering, instead, a conspiracy that sought to falsely accuse Elhai of sexual harassment.

Jets’ counterclaims and more on the conspiracy against Hymie Elhai

The Jets have since filed a 67-page document of counterclaims in response to Chen’s suit, detailing an alleged conspiracy by a group of former execs. According to the filing, Chen, Fitzpatrick, and others spread made-up allegations about Hymie Elhai among a group of other Jets executives.

Discussions surrounding the false allegations were discovered in the text messages and emails the conspirators shared amongst themselves. The Jets alleged that the group openly plotted and warned each other to cover their tracks by deleting their respective correspondence.

The Jets’ filing claimed one of the conspirators sent a supposedly private email containing the plot to Fitzpatrick’s work email. The unnamed conspirator followed with another text, thus:

“Whoops. Sent to your work email by mistake. Delete.”

The Jets further pointed at Chen as an active co-conspirator in the plot, stating in their filing:

“Chen was actively involved in the conspiracy and, based on her own text messages with Fitzpatrick, gleefully so.”

The filing also included some of the about 4,000 text messages as evidence. The texts, discovered in their investigation, show that Chen, Fitzpatrick, and an unnamed co-conspirator who formerly worked with the franchise were the masterminds.

The Jets are demanding from Chen all compensation, benefits, and reimbursements she earned during what they described as her “respective periods of disloyalty.”