Newyork

Investigators Find No Evidence of Sexual Harassment in Seton Hall Case

Investigators hired by Seton Hall University in New Jersey found no evidence to support accusations that its former board chairman sexually harassed its former president’s wife, according to a report released on Thursday.

The university hired a legal firm, Perry Law, in New York to examine the claims, made by the former president, Joseph Nyre, in a lawsuit that he and his wife, Kelli Nyre, filed in February. In the suit, Mr. Nyre also said that the former board chairman, Kevin Marino, had engaged in a campaign of intimidation against him.

After taking statements from more than a dozen university leaders, “not a single witness corroborates the alleged instances of harassment,” the investigators wrote in the report.

Armen McOmber, a lawyer for Mr. Nyre, responded that the Perry firm had acted “hand in glove” with the university “to threaten and disparage” Mr. Nyre and Ms. Nyre.

“The investigation report is an obvious sham,” Mr. McOmber said in an email.

Laurie A. Pine, a spokeswoman for the university, said in an email that the university was “satisfied with the diligence of the investigation and its conclusions.”

The investigation was led by Karen Friedman Agnifilo, a former assistant Manhattan district attorney and deputy chief of the office’s sex crimes unit. Investigators said they found evidence that Mr. Nyre had encouraged a former chief financial officer at the university to make a false claim of harassment against Mr. Marino.

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