Rocco Commisso, the billionaire owner of Italian soccer team Fiorentina and founder of cable TV company Mediacom, has found himself in hot water after admitting to using fake social media accounts to launch a barrage of accusations against U.S. soccer officials.
In December 2017, under the guise of the anonymous Twitter handle “Global Soccer Fan,” Commisso fired off a series of tweets that accused Major League Soccer (MLS) Commissioner Don Garber and U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) President Sunil Gulati of manipulating the American soccer landscape for their own gain.
The tweets were not only highly critical but also deeply personal. He compared Garber to disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, and Gulati to Bernie Madoff, the infamous financier behind one of the largest Ponzi schemes in history. The inflammatory comments were a response to the 2017 decision by the USSF to deny the North American Soccer League (NASL)—which Commisso was leading—second-division status, a move that ultimately led to the league’s demise.
While the NASL was embroiled in a lengthy legal battle, seeking $170 million in damages from MLS and USSF, Commisso took to social media to escalate the conflict. One tweet from his anonymous account read, “If NASL lawsuit continues, the skeletons will come out of the closet”. Another, “MLS is like a prostitute. You only get if you pay.”
In court last week, Commisso was forced to confront his earlier remarks. When questioned about his decision to equate Garber with a sexual predator like Weinstein, Commisso acknowledged the gravity of the comparison but insisted it was a reflection of his frustration with the way his league had been treated.
But the testimony revealed more about Commisso’s actions behind the scenes. He admitted to creating a second anonymous account, “Virgil Kane,” to continue his campaign against MLS and USSF, and even involved Mediacom’s public relations team to push his message. In one instance, Commisso went as far as contacting Fox executives to demand they take action against analyst Alexi Lalas after the latter criticized the NASL lawsuit.
“I don’t feel good about it because it’s not me,” Commisso explained on the stand. “I stopped the Twitter account. I haven’t done any Tweets in five or six years and I’m happy for having stopped all the social media stuff.” Despite expressing regret, Commisso did not apologize for the harm caused by his tweets, instead doubling down on his belief that the U.S. soccer system was corrupt and needed to be called out.
