Nike ended its endorsement deal with soccer superstar Neymar during an investigation into whether he sexually assaulted one of the company’s employees, The Wall Street Journal reports. The company’s general counsel said in a statement, “Nike ended its relationship with the athlete because he refused to cooperate in a good faith investigation of credible allegations of wrongdoing by an employee.” A Nike employee alleged that the Brazilian player, legal name Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior, sexually assaulted her in a 2018 complaint, and the company hired lawyers to investigate in 2019, a probe that was ongoing when the company stopped featuring him in marketing materials. The Paris Saint-Germain star denies that any such complaint was made and told the Journal that the agreement ended in August 2020 for commercial reasons. According to the Journal, the contract was set to run for another eight years at the time it abruptly.
