HBO Chief Arrested On Suspicion Of Assault (UPDATED With Statement)

LAS VEGAS, NV (May 7, 2007) UPDATED May 8, 2007 — The chairman and chief executive of HBO was arrested early Sunday on suspicion of assaulting his girlfriend outside the MGM Grand casino hours after a boxing match aired by his company, authorities said.

Chris Albrecht was in Las Vegas for Saturday night’s fight between Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr., held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena and broadcast on pay-per-view by Home Box Office, Inc., a division of Time Warner Inc.

Officers assigned to the fight reported seeing Albrecht fighting with a woman identified only as his girlfriend in the MGM Grand’s valet parking lot shortly after 3 a.m., said Las Vegas police spokesman Officer Bill Cassell.

“Some of our guys observed a domestic dispute between him and his girlfriend,” Cassell told the Los Angeles Times. “It was a physical confrontation.”

Albrecht was booked into the Clark County Detention Center and held on suspicion of a misdemeanor battery-domestic assault, Cassell said. He was later released, according to detention center dispatcher Ana Herczeg, who said she could provide no further details.

A call to an HBO representative was not immediately returned.

Albrecht joined HBO in 1985 as a senior vice president and was named CEO in 2002, according to his official company biography.

Albrecht released a statement Tuesday afternoon, which reads:

My colleagues and friends:

I am deeply sorry for what occurred in Las Vegas this weekend and for any embarrassment it caused my family, the company I love, and myself.

While I am not at liberty to discuss the incident as the district attorney and my lawyer are still determining the facts, it is my hope to do so in the near future.

This weekend was a wake-up call to me of a weakness I thought I had overcome long ago. I had been a sober member of Alcoholics Anonymous for thirteen years. Two years ago, I decided that I could handle drinking again. Clearly, I was wrong. Given that truth, I have committed myself to sobriety. I intend to take a temporary leave of absence from HBO effective today, in order to go back to working with AA.

Leading this company is a great privilege and I pray that I can continue to do so in a manner that brings honor and pride to this remarkable organization and its remarkable people. Thank you for your understanding during these difficult hours, I will not let you down again.

Chris