DALLAS — Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has agreed to contribute $10 million to help further the cause of women in sports and raise awareness about domestic violence after an investigation released Wednesday substantiated numerous incidents of sexual harassment and improper workplace conduct within the franchise going back more than 20 years.
Investigators hired by the outspoken billionaire said there was no evidence to show Cuban knew of the most explosive allegations involving former team president Terdema Ussery. But the report faulted Cuban for not firing two employees when there were clear signs he should have.
The report was made public some seven months after Sports Illustrated detailed years of examples of a hostile workplace for women on the business side of the team.
Anne Milgram, one of the lead investigators and former attorney general in New Jersey, said Cuban didn’t know many details of allegations because he was rarely in the club’s business office. It is housed away from the home arena and basketball operations.
But when some issues were brought to Cuban’s attention, he erred by not acting swiftly, the report said.
In one case, a successful ticket salesman wasn’t fired after surveillance video showed a used condom slipping out of his pants. Years earlier, Cuban had been told pornography was found on the employee’s computer, and Cuban warned him that he would be fired it happened again.
When told about the condom, Cuban was not aware of any further issues with pornography on the computer and wrote to Ussery, “Don’t make a bigger issue out of it than it is.” The employee wasn’t fired until three years later after other issues came up, including with a new female employee.
In another case, Cuban didn’t fire team website reporter Earl Sneed after learning of a second domestic violence allegation against him. The accuser was another Mavericks employee. Sneed was fired after the SI report.