The Philadelphia 76ers have hired the law firm of Paul/Weiss to investigate the connection between president of basketball operations Bryan Colangelo and five Twitter burner accounts, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
The original report from The Ringer had Colangelo as the likely operator of these accounts, but after a few days of Twitter investigation, his wife; Barbara, came as a possible suspect, which has made this investigation centered around her operating these accounts.
Sixers ownership group has debated the possibility of firing Colangelo, desperately looking for a rather quick resolution to this probe, given the sensible timing of this accusation.
The investigation went from honing on Colangelo into focusing on his wife as the person behind these accounts, which contained “a barrage of incendiary and revelatory tweets centered on Sixers players' personal lives, injuries, proposed trades, former employees and rival league executives” while also praising Colangelo.
The Ringer contacted the Sixers and told them they had knowledge of two of those accounts, to which he admitted having control of one of them. Hours later, the other three unmentioned accounts had gone private, which raised major suspicions on the initial investigative piece.
Colangelo has denied any connection to these accounts, besides the one he admitted to controlling, saying that “someone's out to get me” due to the nature and timing of the allegations.
The Ringer initially got wind of this information through an anonymous tip, later taking steps to confirm every bit of the information received, including speaking to several sources who have worked alongside Colangelo.
The National Basketball Players Association previously hired Paul/Weiss to deliver a special report on the business practices of former executive director Billy Hunter in 2013, per Wojnarowski. The firm will make use of cyberintelligence consultants to further help them in the investigation, which will reportedly include Colangelo surrendering his phones and electronic devices for scrutiny.
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