Water bottle contaminated with urine after discrimination complaint
Company: Riot
The claim, verbatim
On August 23, 2025, approximately 7:45 a.m., the plaintiff discovered his water bottle intentionally contaminated with urine after reporting the racial slur to HR.
Source (primary)
Howell v. Riot Platforms Inc — Entry #1: COMPLAINT WITH JURY DEMAND against All Defendants filed by Coronet Howell (RECAP (purchased via PACER), court_filing)
View cached copy (2026-09-26)Live source ↗
Quote: “On August 23, 2025, at around 7:45 a.m., Mr. Howell alleges to have discovered that someone intentionally urinated inside his water bottle exposing him to bodily fluids without his consent.”
How we checked this
Checked on September 28, 2026. The cited source supports every part of this claim.
Paragraphs 13, 17 and 24 set out the HR report, the date and time, and the alleged contamination. These are allegations; the complaint also notes the company suggested the smell could have been spoiled Gatorade.
Confirmed in the source:
- The complaint alleges that on August 23, 2025, around 7:45 a.m., the plaintiff discovered someone had intentionally urinated in his water bottle
- The complaint alleges this happened after he reported the racial slur to HR
What we did: Read our cached copy of RECAP (purchased via PACER) (https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txnd.415502/gov.uscourts.txnd.415502.1.0.pdf) in full (22,976 characters, retrieved September 26, 2026) and checked each assertion in the claim against it.
Additional evidence
confirms Howell v. Riot Platforms Inc — Entry #1: COMPLAINT WITH JURY DEMAND against All Defendants filed by Coronet Howell
Quote: “On August 23, 2025, at around 7:45 a.m., Mr. Howell alleges to have discovered that someone intentionally urinated inside his water bottle exposing him to bodily fluids without his consent.”