Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk at the center of another embarrassing scandal.

Melnyk making headlines for all the wrong reasons... again.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 4 years ago
Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk at the center of another embarrassing scandal.
Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press

The Toronto Maple Leafs made major headlines on Friday when they announced they had signed restricted free agent forward Mitchell Marner to a brand new 6 year contract worth over $65 million in US dollars. Not to be outdone by their provincial rivals however the Ottawa Senators are also now back in the headlines but unfortunately, as has often been the case with the Senators as of lately, it is once again for all the wrong reasons. 

According to a rather embarrassing report from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation it now appears as though Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk is currently being being sued by a Casino based in the United States of America for failing to pay on a debt of nearly $1 million dollars. According to the CBC report the lawsuit alleges that Melnyk tried and failed to pay the casino with 5 bank drafts over the course of a single weekend, with those 5 drafts amounting to a staggering $900,000. The Mohegan Sun alleges that those drafts were "dishonoured" by the bank and now they want their money back as well as an additional $15,000 in interest and damages. 

This does not sound like it was merely some type of misunderstanding either, in fact if anything it sounds like the Mohegan Sun attempted to be patient before bringing this lawsuit to bear against the Ottawa Senators owner. According to court documents the dispute stems from all the way back to March 17th of 2017, indicating that this has been a long standing dispute between the two parties, one that is now likely to be settled in a court of law. 

Unsurprisingly Melnyk has chosen thus far not to comment publicly on yet another embarrassing scandal involving either him directly or the Ottawa Senators organization, but the CBC did manage to pry a comment from Melnyk's attorney, Sheldon Plener. Plener did not comment on any details regarding the case itself, but would only state that he expects a "swift result" to what has been a multi-year conflict between Melnyk and the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut. 

Given all the negative headlines surrounding Eugene Melnyk over the course of the past few years, I have to admit I am struggling very badly to give him the benefit of the doubt in this situation.

Source: