The Panthers appeared to be in line for a new practice facility in the near future, but the project which was planned to take place in Rock Hill, South Carolina was abandoned earlier this year. Owner David Tepper and his his real estate company are now the subject of a probe into the matter. 
As detailed by Jeffrey Collins of the Associated Press, a criminal investigation has been opened by the York County Sheriff’s Office into Tepper and GT Real Estate regarding the potential misuse of public funds during the short-lived process of attempting to build the facility. In question is the $21MM in sales tax money which the company is accused of using on a “failed vanity project” before they recently declared bankruptcy.
That figure is roughly equivalent to the amount paid out to York County following a settlement reached between the two parties. That process very recently ended a lawsuit filed against Tepper and the Panthers, one which has yet to be formally approved, Collins notes. The organization has suggested the announcement of a criminal probe could be related to the timing of the settlement agreement.
“An investigation is simply an inquiry and should not create any inference that wrongdoing has been committed by any party,” a joint statement issued by Sherriff Kevin Tolson and Solicitor Kevin Brackett reads. Tepper’s company has denied any wrongdoing, and argued that the project collapsed because funding from Rock Hill and other governments was never provided to facilitate its completion.
“This is a straightforward commercial matter that is being fully resolved,” GT Real Estate said in a statement of its own. “The underlying disputes arise under contracts that were jointly negotiated by the parties and are publicly available. The funds paid by the county were handled consistent with the terms of those contracts.”
Tepper, 65, bought the Panthers in 2018 for a then-record price of $2.2 billion. One of the NFL’s wealthiest owners, his tenure has most notably been marked to date by the failed head coaching hire of Matt Rhule and a years-long inability to acquire a long-term franchise quarterback. This story will remain worth watching in the event criminal action is deemed necessary against him and/or his company.
Hopefully Dan Snyder and him will be cell mates in the future.
Stfu
I could’ve (mis)managed a failed vanity project for a fraction of that price.
This is a story about nothing. Nothing with come of it.
A story about nothing? unless you lived in the County that got stiffed.
Just take away a 5th rounder and call it a day.
Now I’m picturing York County, South Carolina deciding how to spend their one 5th round draft pick. Run-stuffing defensive tackle? A raw developmental tight end with great athletic traits?
Steel plates to put over the pot holes on the highway. That’s how we spend public funds here.
The real crime is that public funds are ever earmarked to build facilities for extremely profitable private businesses owned by the wealthiest people in the world. This specific case is small potatoes. Tepper can make restitution on the money in two seconds, if he has to and hasn’t already. This doesn’t make me trust Tepper any more than I already did (or didn’t), but as misuse of public funds scandals involving NFL people go, this isn’t as bad as the one involving Favre.
As a sidenote nearly completely unrelated to this, Patriots owner Bob Kraft has a paper mill in the upstate of South Carolina, close to York County. This mill is accused of severely polluting the water supply by residents and more importantly, destroying the air by severely (and I mean extremely severely) polluting the air supply with particulate matter. It’s called the New Indy Paper Mill, and you can look it up to see some of the accusations. It’s not big news for most, but a test done in I believe 2020 showed its air byproduct to be the worst (or amongst the worst) polluter in the country. The smell radiates around the city of Catawba. It’s bad.
The people of South Carolina do not have and will likely never have an NFL team based there, but they’re used to getting screwed by their owners on a routine basis.
Ugh. I didn’t know that one in particular, but I’m unsurprised. One of my big picture pet peeves is the way sustainability is largely discussed in terms of individual behavior–you, the regular person’s choices in transportation, shopping, diet–when the real damage to the environment is done at an industrial level by people who face no real accountability, who are frequently celebrated for all the charity they support with a sliver of their earnings.
One thing making that harder, in addition to your comment, is the impossible notion of enforcing that overseas as well. It’s hard enough finding workable solutions here that we are willing to enforce, doing so with the world’s biggest polluters in other countries is a pipe dream. Bob Kraft is not one of my favorite people, and neither is David Tepper. They’d happily take my (our) dollars if I bought a jersey, but just as happily make their money if it meant taking advantage of me (or any one of us). But I digress.
Yeah, there’s certainly a limit to what the US can do about other countries in that regard, but if our country is constantly going to tout itself as the greatest in the world, there are certainly a lot of worthwhile areas to work harder to actually lead the way. But I digress, too.
Initially I thought the story somehow involved:
York County, Pennsylvania
I came here to see if my hometown county would be brought up
Bring back Jerry Richardson
“An investigation is simply an inquiry and should not create any inference that wrongdoing has been committed by any party,”
This is lawyer speak for: “I’m being paid very well to ask meaningless questions about things that are irrelevant…and I couldn’t be happier”.