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Mat Ishbia bought the Phoenix Suns after previous owner Robert Sarver was pushed out for fostering a culture that welcomed racist and sexist behavior.
Now, a new report accuses Ishbia’s company of similar problems.
Employees at Ishbia’s United Wholesale Mortgage described a workplace in which managers treated Black workers differently from white ones and sales personnel made sexually inappropriate comments, according to Bloomberg. Managers also allegedly berated their subordinates and made sexual comments.
Cocaine use was common among executives, managers, and sales staff, per Bloomberg’s sources, which include current and former employees.
Unlike Sarver, Ishbia himself is not implicated in any of the alleged behavior.
The company’s lawyers pushed back against the report, saying that “UWM does not tolerate cocaine or any drug use.”
UWM chief marketing officer Sarah DeCiantis added that the reports were “false and misleading” and suggested that they come from “disgruntled individuals or a competitor pushing a false narrative to the media.”
Sarver was suspended from the NBA for one year and fined $10 million after a league-commissioned report detailed “racially insensitive language; unequal treatment of female employees; sex-related statements and conduct; and harsh treatment of employees that on occasion constituted bullying” from himself and other executives and managers.
He elected to sell the team shortly after.
