Sports Illustrated reported Sunday that at least four former Carolina Panthers employees have received "significant" monetary settlements as a result of inappropriate workplace comments and conduct by owner Jerry Richardson.
The conduct, Sports Illustrated reported, included "sexually suggestive language and behavior, and on at least one occasion directing a racial slur at an African-American Panthers scout."
SI said the settlements featured non-disclosure agreements forbidding the parties from discussing the matter.
The Panthers on Friday made the surprising announcement that the team was investigating Richardson for allegations of workplace misconduct. On Sunday, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said it will take over the probe after questions about whether one of the team's minority partners should oversee the review.
Team spokesman Steven Drummond told the Observer he cannot comment on the SI report. McCarthy says the league has no comment on the specific allegations of misconduct by Richardson laid out in the SI story.
Richardson was not available for comment. Mark Richardson, his son and a member of the ownership group, did not immediately return a call from the Observer. Charlotte businessman Cameron Harris, another limited partner, said he could not comment because of the pending investigation.
Richardson, 81, is at the Panthers' game Sunday against the Green Bay Packers, seated in the owner's box with his wife at his side. He has owned the team since it began play as an NFL expansion franchise in the 1995 season and led the ownership group that brought professional football to the Carolinas.
Before the game, Panthers head coach Ron Rivera told a team reporter that the team discussed the investigation into Richardson. "One of the things we talked about is 'you respect who he is ... who he has been for you, more so than anything else.' "
The original investigation was to be conducted by Quinn Emanuel Urquhart and Sullivan, LLP, an international law firm based in Los Angeles. Erskine Bowles, a limited owner with the team and a former White House chief of staff, was overseeing the probe.
On Sunday, the NFL said it would hire an independent law firm to lead the investigation.
According to SI, Richardson's accusers described a similar behavior pattern that they said created a hostile work environment. The story does not name any of the employees, but notes that they had confidentiality agreements. In one case, SI said it reviewed the physical legal document for one of the settlements.
The conduct, according to SI, included comments about female employees' appearance on "Jeans Day" at the office, notes accompanied by small cash payments with encouragement to use the money for massages or dresses and even requests by Richardson asking them if he could personally shave their legs. In other instances, Richardson asked female employees to massage his feet, the report said.
Multiple sources also told SI that Richardson directed a racial slur at an African-American scout for the Panthers, who left he team this year.
A native Carolinian who is the only current owner to have also played in the NFL, Richardson began the process of trying to obtain an NFL team for Charlotte in 1987 and was awarded the franchise on Oct. 26, 1993. Richardson is a former wide receiver at Wofford and with the Baltimore Colts who made his money mostly in the restaurant business. He has been the Panthers' majority owner since the day it began play in 1995.
Richardson, who had a heart transplant in 2009, has rarely appeared in public settings in recent years, although he has continued to attend Panthers games. He made headlines in 2009 when his sons, Mark and Jon, both suddenly resigned their team presidencies.
The very public family split meant that the family business was no longer much of a family business. Richardson said in 2009 he and his family owned 48 percent of the team, with the other 52 percent being owned by a group of about a dozen minority partners. He has told city officials he wants the team sold within two years of his death.
