Penny Sarver, the wife of Suns majority owner Robert Sarver, recently sent messages to three former Suns employees, per ESPN's Baxter Holmes. Her husband is being investigated by the NBA for fostering a toxic workplace.
The investigation into her husband was brought on when ESPN detailed how the Suns' majority owner allegedly used racially insensitive language while also making lewd and misogynistic comments in the workplace in a bombshell report. Those comments would even come during staff meetings, including an instance of him discussing his wife performing oral sex on him, per ESPN.
"I don't know how to interpret it other than as a threat," one former Suns employee told ESPN about the messages.
Penny Sarver confirmed she sent the messages but denied they were meant to intimidate.
"Over the weekend, I decided on my own to reach out to a few people to try to set the record straight and to share how disappointed and hurt I am by the lies that are circulating about my husband and The Suns organization," she told ESPN. "I shared the betrayal that I felt and I touched on some of the pain that we are going through as a family. Any suggestion that I tried to 'intimidate' anyone is as silly as it is wrong and outrageous."
In the messages, Penny Sarver accuses the employees of lying. She also mentions Earl Watson, the former Suns coach, who told ESPN Robert Sarver fostered a toxic work environment.
"I know a lot of bridges were burned between you and Robert and you are very bitter. I want to remind you that real lives are at stake here," she wrote to one ex-employee. "Please put your hatred aside and realize the hurt you are causing by spreading lies and fabrications. Is your time in the spotlight that important? If something happens to one of my children, I will hold you and Earl Watson personally responsible. Think about your own child for a second and imagine the tables turned."
Accusing the employees of lying and mentioning how her family could be damaged because of the investigation was a common theme throughout the messages.
"You are such a liar," she wrote to another ex-employee. "In your trying to destroy my husband with [your] lies — you have destroyed my family and children."
