The WBZ News segment reports that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell upheld Tom Brady's four‑game suspension, reaffirming findings that Brady and Patriots personnel were involved in a scheme to tamper with game balls. The ruling also introduced a new allegation: Brady allegedly destroyed his cell phone, obstructing the league's investigation. The segment details the timeline of the case, includes reactions from the NFL Players Association, and features identity‑theft expert Robert Siciliano, who explains that even a destroyed phone may leave recoverable data on carrier servers or backups, highlighting broader privacy and data‑security concerns for high‑profile individuals.
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With his legacy on the line tonight, Tom Brady is taking the NFL to court. The commissioner says the 4-game suspension will stick while delivering new evidence of a cover-up. The NFL says Tom Brady destroyed his cell phone, while the Patriots say the league is trying to destroy Brady's reputation.
The team, Patriots fans, the union— they're all furious, and a long-simmering story has come to a boil. We have team coverage on the suspension, the new cell phone scandal and the toll that this could take on Tom Brady's image. We want to begin with Steve Burton, who is live in Foxborough tonight. Steve.
Lisa David, thank you very much. You know, it's been 191 days since the AFC Championship Game, 35 days since the epic appeal hearing in New York, and now today the hammer came down with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's ruling that the Super Bowl MVP's 4-game suspension will indeed stand. They probably won't be smiling together for the cameras anytime soon. In his decision, Roger Goodell said, quote, "Brady knew about, approved of, consented to, and provided inducements and rewards in support of a scheme by which Patriots personnel tampered with game balls." Harsh words. But perhaps the biggest piece of news in today's ruling, the cell phone that Brady refused to surrender to the league's investigators. He admitted during his appeal hearing that he had an assistant destroy it. Goodell found that Brady, quote, "willfully obstructed the investigation by arranging for destruction of his cell phone knowing that it contained potentially relevant information." In the 4 months Brady used that cell phone, he had sent or received nearly 10,000 text messages. And that's what the NFL was looking for. Brady said he always destroys an old cell phone for security reasons. Reaction came fast and particularly furious after the NFL ruling. From the Players Union: "The fact that the NFL would resort to basing a suspension on a smokescreen of irrelevant text messages instead of admitting that they have all the phone records they have asked for is a new low even for them, but it does nothing to correct their errors. The NFLPA will appeal this outrageous decision on behalf of Tom Brady." Thank you, Jim.
The commissioner says finding out that Brady destroyed his phone was the most significant development in the appeals process. Now Brady offered an explanation, but does it make sense? Jim Armstrong has that part of our coverage tonight. Jim.
Lisa, Tom Brady told the NFL that whenever he gets a new cell phone, he always has the old one destroyed. Tonight I found one expert who says that's a good idea for all of us to prevent identity theft, but that same expert also says even if Brady's phone is gone and even if it's destroyed, there may still be a way to get that information.
More than likely, those text messages are residing on a server that, uh, with a little push and shove, someone can get access to.
Identity theft expert Robert Siciliano is a cyber sleuth. He says even if Tom Brady did destroy his cell phone, he probably didn't destroy all his data.
It is certainly possible that the data is gone. Uh, it is also more than likely that the data is somewhere. His carrier, at some level, probably has the information. They do store that data for a period of time. Some say anywhere from 2 to 6 months.
What do you think about the phone being destroyed?
The cell phone issue was front and center on talk radio at 98.5 The Sports Hub. Who's gonna be the first one that asks Belichick where his phone is? Was his phone destroyed? Who knows?
We found the Social Security numbers, bank account numbers, credit card information.
Now an argument in favor of Brady destroying his phone. Siciliano says it is actually a good idea for all of us to do that whenever changing cell phones.
You don't recycle mobile devices today like you did back in the day. Because the data is there. Somebody could find information on that phone if it was, say, recycled or sold. And being that he's high-profile, he doesn't want that device or its information getting in the wrong hands because of identity theft issues.
So Siciliano says whenever you're getting rid of that old cell phone, it is definitely a good idea to destroy it. But remember, the NFL is also saying that Brady told them he just happened to destroy his phone on or around the same day that he was questioned by league officials about Deflategate. Live in the satellite center, Jim Smith, WBZ News.
