The 30-page NBA document detailing the charges against Donald Sterling accuses the longtime owner of the Los Angeles Clippers of trying to persuade V. Stiviano to tell a league investigator she altered a recording and it wasn't Sterling making racist remarks on the audio, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.
On Monday, the NBA released a summary of the charges that could lead to NBA owners voting to strip Sterling and his wife, Shelly, of the franchise they have co-owned for 33 years.
In it, the NBA said: "In the course of the investigation into Mr. Sterling's conduct, it was discovered that relevant evidence was destroyed, false and misleading evidence was provided to the NBA's investigator, and LAC issued a false and misleading press statement regarding this matter."
The Times reported that the NBA document it obtained alleges Donald Sterling and Stiviano met on May 2, about a week after the recording containing racist remarks was released by TMZ and just before Stiviano was interviewed by Barbara Walters on ABC.
"Sterling asked Stiviano to tell the NBA that she lied in her previous meeting with the league," the Times reported.
The newspaper also reported the NBA is prepared to argue at a June 3 meeting of the NBA Board of Governors that evidence shows that Sterling and his wife are not estranged and that she helped prepare the team's press release after the recordings were aired. Team President Andy Roeser also was in on the drafting of the statement that questioned the validity of the recording and suggested it was released by someone seeking revenge against Donald Sterling, according to the newspaper's account of the NBA document.
The Times report also said the NBA suggested Roeser heard the recording on April 9, weeks before it went online, after a Clippers employee sent Roeser a copy.The document says Roeser told the employee to delete the audio file and text messages about it from a cell phone. Roeser is now on indefinite leave from the team.
The paper said Sterling's lawyer, Maxwell Blecher, didn't respond to a request for comment.
When asked by a CNN producer at a Tuesday news conference what evidence had been destroyed, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said he wouldn't comment on the specifics of the investigation.
MORE on CNN.com
soundoff (No Responses)