The billionaire owner of the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons hired a woman half his age to work on his private jet while the pair were “in a romantic relationship” — but she wasn’t qualified for the job, and he allegedly forced two other stewardesses to work unpaid overtime to pick up the slack, according to an explosive lawsuit. The family office of Arthur Blank — who made his fortune as co-founder of big-box retailer Home Depot before buying the Falcons in 2002 for $545 million — is being sued by two corporate flight attendants, Adele Pearson and Samantha Carlisle. The pair allege they were not paid overtime after working long, grueling hours on Blank’s luxurious aircraft partly because the family office’s flight group “was a dysfunctional and poorly run business unit that hired and retained incompetent employees solely because they had sexual relationships with Blank or supervisors,” the suit claims.
According to the complaint filed on Oct. 18 in Atlanta federal court, 82-year-old Blank, who is thrice divorced and has six children, was romantically involved with 42-year-old Christie Buice, who was hired as a flight attendant by the mogul’s family office, AMBFO. Buice “provided only limited support” as AMBFO “allowed her to be scheduled on flights only if Blank was the only person traveling on the aircraft,” it was alleged in the complaint, which was reported by Business Insider and Law360.
As a result, flight attendants Pearson and Carlisle alleged th.
