<p>Florida Panthers minority owner, vice chairman and partner Douglas Cifu has been suspended by the NHL indefinitely, after making inflammatory comments on social media following Game 4 against the Toronto Maple Leafs.</p>
<p>&#8220;Eat s—t 51st state anti-semite loser,&#8221; an account allegedly belonging to Cifu, <a href="https://x.com/mrgrozz/status/1921765096113455580">posted Sunday</a>. &#8220;Israel now and forever. Until ever (sp?) last Hamas rat is eliminated.&#8221;</p>
<p>The account made these comments in response to a Leafs fan posting about a series of controversial hits that took place during Game 4. The account in question has <a href="https://x.com/Dougielarge">since been deleted from Twitter/X</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;The NHL has concluded that Mr. Cifu’s X posts were unacceptable and inappropriate. As a result, Mr. Cifu has been suspended indefinitely from any involvement with the Club and the NHL,” the NHL said in a statement obtained by <a href="https://torontosun.com/sports/hockey/nhl/toronto-maple-leafs/panthers-exec-post-canada-51st-state">Dan Bilicki of the Toronto Sun</a>. &#8220;An in-person meeting will be scheduled with Mr. Cifu and the Commissioner at a date to be determined.&#8221;</p>
<p>Cifu co-founded Virtu Financial in 2008, a financial technology and product firm, alongside Panthers owner Vincent Viola in 2008. He is also on the board of directors of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Cifu joined the Panthers when Viola purchased the team in 2013, and likened his own ambition with the club to his business ventures on Wall Street.</p>
<p>“People were suspicious. ‘Are they gonna move the team? Are they carpetbaggers? They’re New Yorkers. They’re Wall Street guys. They’re up to something.’ And we were very consistent from Day One saying we have no agenda other than to win in South Florida. That’s all we wanted to do, believe us,&#8221; Cifu said in a <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/nhl/florida-panthers/article71375642.html">2016 profile with the Miami Herald</a>.</p>
<p>At the time of this filing, the Panthers haven&#8217;t commented on Cifu&#8217;s suspension. It&#8217;s unclear when Cifu and Bettman will have their meeting.</p>
<p>Game 5 of the Maple Leafs-Panthers series resumes on Wednesday.</p>
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Florida Panthers minority owner, vice chairman and partner Douglas Cifu has been suspended by the NHL indefinitely, after making inflammatory comments on social media following Game 4 against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

"Eat s—t 51st state anti-semite loser," an account allegedly belonging to Cifu, <a href="https://x.com/mrgrozz/status/1921765096113455580">posted Sunday</a>. "Israel now and forever. Until ever (sp?) last Hamas rat is eliminated."

The account made these comments in response to a Leafs fan posting about a series of controversial hits that took place during Game 4. The account in question has <a href="https://x.com/Dougielarge">since been deleted from Twitter/X</a>.

"The NHL has concluded that Mr. Cifu’s X posts were unacceptable and inappropriate. As a result, Mr. Cifu has been suspended indefinitely from any involvement with the Club and the NHL,” the NHL said in a statement obtained by <a href="https://torontosun.com/sports/hockey/nhl/toronto-maple-leafs/panthers-exec-post-canada-51st-state">Dan Bilicki of the Toronto Sun</a>. "An in-person meeting will be scheduled with Mr. Cifu and the Commissioner at a date to be determined."

Cifu co-founded Virtu Financial in 2008, a financial technology and product firm, alongside Panthers owner Vincent Viola in 2008. He is also on the board of directors of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Cifu joined the Panthers when Viola purchased the team in 2013, and likened his own ambition with the club to his business ventures on Wall Street.

“People were suspicious. ‘Are they gonna move the team? Are they carpetbaggers? They’re New Yorkers. They’re Wall Street guys. They’re up to something.’ And we were very consistent from Day One saying we have no agenda other than to win in South Florida. That’s all we wanted to do, believe us," Cifu said in a <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/nhl/florida-panthers/article71375642.html">2016 profile with the Miami Herald</a>.

At the time of this filing, the Panthers haven't commented on Cifu's suspension. It's unclear when Cifu and Bettman will have their meeting.

Game 5 of the Maple Leafs-Panthers series resumes on Wednesday.
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