Breaking: Eli Manning's Emails Prove He and the Giants Conspired in a Memorabilia Ripoff Scheme
NY Post – Giants quarterback Eli Manning was in on a scheme to sell phony game-worn gear — sending an email asking the team’s equipment manager for “helmets that can pass as game used,” according to blockbuster court papers obtained by The Post.
The legal filing also alleges that Big Blue failed to produce the smoking-gun request — sent from Manning’s old-school AOL account to an official NFL account — even though “they claim to have no document destruction policy.”
But Manning turned over the incriminating email last week in connection with a civil racketeering suit that accuses him, his team and others of conspiring to fleece collectors of authentic athletic uniforms worn on the playing field. …
[O]n April 27, 2010, Giants equipment manager Joe Skiba sent Manning an email saying: “Let me know what your looking for I’ll try to get something down for you…,” court papers say.
“2 helmets that can pass as game used. That is it. Eli,” Manning allegedly responded from his BlackBerry. …
The emails were filed Tuesday in New Jersey’s Bergen County Superior Court by three memorabilia collectors who are suing the Giants, Manning, Skiba, Steiner and others, including team co-owner and CEO John Mara.
In related court papers, plaintiffs’ lawyer Brian Brook alleges that the emails prove “Manning was looking to give non-game-used helmets to Steiner to satisfy — fraudulently — his contractual obligation.”
Oh the horror. The horror! Scandal! Coverup! Cheating! Lies! Destroying emails! Deception!
This is an outrage! This was a conspiracy to defraud the public. Crimes were committed, and I demand justice! There’s only one reasonable course for the NFL to follow. Roger Goodell needs to hire someone to spend millions to get to the bottom of this. We need every Giants employee dragged in an forced to testify what they knew and when they knew it. Eli Manning. Joe Skiba. Ben McAdoo. John Mara. We need their phones turned over and we need to know if Manning ever gave team assistants anything and if Skiba has ever, at any time in the past, referred to himself as “The Helmet Forger.”
Mostly we need to acknowledge that this speaks to the integrity of the game. When you have a Super Bowl champion destroying evidence, then everything they’ve ever done is called into question. We need to put asterisks on both of Eli’s championships. We need him suspended. And positively the Giants need to surrender their 1st and 4th round picks and Mara needs to write a check for a million bucks. Goodell has to drop Article 46 on them like a great MOAB of institutional justice and he needs to do it five minutes ago.
Anything less than that and it clearly proves that the NFL plays favorites, and we can’t have that.
P.S. When Tom Brady released his emails, we found out they were all about giving pep talks to NHL teams, asking for charitable donations, Make-a-Wish requests and pool covers. Eli’s turn out to be all about ripping off his fans.
P.P.S. The fact that Eli still has an AOL account is the least surprising part of this story. It’s probably still the account he uses for his MySpace.
@jerrythornton1