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Sixers’ Twitter scandal: How Bryan Colangelo’s wife Barbara Bottini is involved

Here's what we know about Bryan Colangelo's wife, Barbara Bottini, who has become a central figure in the Sixers' Twitter scandal.

Sixers President Bryan Colangelo has resigned, the team said Thursday. Here he is pictured before the Sixers played the Boston Celtics in game five of the Eastern Conference semifinals in May.
Sixers President Bryan Colangelo has resigned, the team said Thursday. Here he is pictured before the Sixers played the Boston Celtics in game five of the Eastern Conference semifinals in May. Read moreYONG KIM / Staff Photographer

Bryan Colangelo's resignation as the 76ers' president on Thursday came after a law firm hired by the team wrapped up its investigation into allegations from a sports and pop culture website, The Ringer, that Colangelo was connected to anonymous Twitter accounts that revealed sensitive team information and criticized players and coach Brett Brown.

Among the findings was that Colangelo's wife, Barbara Bottini, was involved. Here's what we know:

What did she do?

Bottini created or used four burner accounts linked to controversial tweets, and then cleared her iPhone of evidence by doing a factory reset before handing it over to forensic investigators, according to a statement released by the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP.

>> READ MORE: Bryan Colangelo's downfall is stunning, but the Sixers did the right thing | David Murphy

The firm said the factory reset "limited and impeded" its investigation.

What has Bryan Colangelo said about his wife?

He said in his own statement that he never "purposefully or directly" shared any sensitive, non-public, club-related information with his wife.

"Her actions were a seriously misguided effort to publicly defend and support me," the statement said. "And while I recognize how inappropriate these actions were, she acted independently and without my knowledge or consent."

>> READ MORE: Bryan Colangelo resigns: David Griffin, other candidates who may take over as Sixers GM

What else do we know about her?

She is from Italy, according to the Toronto Star, which spoke to Bryan Colangelo – who previously was the general manager of the Toronto Raptors — in 2007 about his style:

"I was named best dressed in high school in 1983," he said. "I was much more preppy then. Now, I'm somewhere in between North American style and Italian style. That's the influence of having a Northern Italian wife."
Colangelo has all his shirts custom made at Manifatture all' Orologio, a little shop in the main piazza in Bologna, Italy.

Toronto Life also briefly mentioned Bottini in a story from 2012:

He and his wife, Barbara Bottini, send their two kids to private schools and often take long holidays in Italy.