Madison Square Garden said in a new lawsuit Monday alleging that the State Liquor Authority is “colluding” with powerful, connected lawyers in its investigation of the arena’s liquor license, which could strip the Garden’s ability to serve booze.
The World’s Most Famous Arena is seeking to compel Verizon to produce phone records for Charles Stravalle, a part-time SLA investigator probing whether MSG’s policy of using facial recognition to ban lawyers with litigation against it from the venue violates state liquor law. The Garden claims that the SLA, which has charged MSG with administrative law violations over the bans, is explicitly acting at the behest of the “politically influential lawyers” with an “axe to grind.”