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Back in February, just months after Kevin Durant got exposed for using a fake social media account to defend himself on the Internet, The Ringer received an anonymous tip accusing Bryan Colangelo, the Philadelphia 76ers’ president of basketball operations, of the same thing.
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Problem is, in Colangelo’s case, the longtime NBA executive allegedly used the secret accounts to criticize players and policies in his own organization.
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According to the anonymous whistleblower, Colangelo had been using five separate Twitter accounts to criticize players, including Joel Embiid, Jahlil Okafor, and Nerlens Noel, debate decisions of his own coaching staff, disclose confidential information about his players and, of course, gossip.
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Of the five accounts, one never Tweeted, but followed Sixers employees, meanwhile the other four interacted with several users. According to the publication, one was active between April 2016 to May 2017 (@Alvic40117560 in the name Eric Jr.), while two others were active within the last five months (@Honesta34197118 and @Enoughunkownso1). However, the last account posted several times a day, and as recent as last week (@s_bonhams).
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Although at the time of the investigation, it was unclear if the accounts were connected to Colangelo, after the publication reached out the Colangelo about the accounts, the three that weren’t mentioned all switched to private and all followers linked to the exec were unfollowed. However, the organization did respond to the publication with a statement from Colangelo that read, “Like many of my colleagues in sports, I have used social media as a means to keep up with the news.”
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“While I have never posted anything whatsoever on social media, I have used the @PHila1234567 Twitter account referenced in this story to monitor our industry and other current events. This storyline is disturbing me on many levels, as I am not familiar with any of the other accounts that have been brought to my attention, nor do I know who is behind them or what their motives may be in using them.”
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This incident comes several months after Roger Goodell’s wife was caught using a fake Twitter account to defend her husband.
