A Long Island attorney says he was kicked out of a Knicks game after being tagged by facial recognition technology in Madison Square Garden — the same system the company used to boot another attorney out of a Rockettes show.
“I was upset — we had a whole night planned that got botched,” said attorney Alexis Majano, 28. “I said, ‘This is ridiculous.'”
Majano — whose law firm has a pending lawsuit against Madison Square Garden Entertainment in an unrelated matter — was walking with friends to the game against the Celtics on Nov. 5 when he was stopped on an escalator, he said.
“A gentleman in a suit stopped me and said, ‘Are you Alexis Majano? The manager wants to speak to you,” he said. “I noticed that security has blocked the exit.”
One of the workers, equipped with a bodycam, told him the conversation was being “recorded” – and then started looting him, he said.
Majano said the employee asked if he worked for the law firm Sahn Ward Braff Koblenz – which recently filed a lawsuit on behalf of a fan who fell from a skybox in Madison Square Garden during a Billy Joel concert.
Majano, who works for the firm but is not involved in the case, said the worker has a long list of lawyers he appears should fire.
“He gave me a list of 20 to 30 pages of random names and companies. He asked me… ‘Do you work for Sahn Ward? Are you a lawyer?” I said yes,” Majano said.
“They explained very briefly: All companies with litigation against MSG are banned,” he continued. “I was shocked.”
When Majano asked the worker how the venue identified him, “he said, ‘We caught you on facial recognition.”
“I was pretty sure they were right because I didn’t show any ID – the tickets didn’t have my name on it,” he said.
The clerk then forced Majano to leave, which thwarted his plans for the night, Majano said.
The ordeal came weeks before another attorney, Kelly Conlon, was tagged through facial recognition technology and booted out of Radio City, which is owned by Madison Square Garden CEO James Dolan.
Conlon, 44, was supervising her 9-year-old daughter’s Boy Scout troop at the Radio City Christmas Spectacular on November 27 when she was denied entry despite having a ticket.
Madison Square Garden Entertainment later said it had “established a simple policy barring attorneys for companies that have active litigation against the company from attending events.”
Rob Abiuso, 55, a partner at the company where Majano works, said he is now considering taking legal action on Majano’s behalf.
“This is obviously inappropriate,” he said. “Don’t let me go in, I’m the attorney [on the case],” he said. “But charge the whole company?”
“I am seriously considering filing a lawsuit against her,” he said. “I am angry.”
MSG Entertainment told The Post on Wednesday that the policy remains in place.
“All affected lawyers have been informed of the policy. We continue to make it clear that affected attorneys will be welcome back to our locations once the litigation is resolved,” it said in a statement.
“We have always made it clear to our guests and the public that we use facial recognition as one of our tools to provide a safe environment for our customers and ourselves,” the company added.
