James Dolan, Harvey Weinstein deny accusations of sexual assault

A Tennessee lady filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday accusing James Dolan, chairman of Madison Sq. Backyard and governor of the New York Knicks and New York Rangers, of pressuring her into undesirable intercourse practically a decade in the past whereas additionally facilitating an encounter with disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, who she additionally claimed sexually assaulted her.

Within the lawsuit, filed in the USA District Court docket for the Central District of California and obtained by ESPN, Kellye Croft says she was 27 and dealing as a licensed therapeutic massage therapist when she met Dolan in fall 2013 whereas on a tour with a rock band, the Eagles. (Dolan’s band, JD & The Straight Shot, opened for the Eagles through the tour.)

Throughout one encounter, the lawsuit alleges, Dolan turned “extraordinarily assertive, and pressured Ms. Croft into undesirable sexual activity with him.” In subsequent encounters, the lawsuit alleges, Croft was summoned to Dolan’s room, the place he made “unwelcome advances towards Ms. Croft, and he or she felt obligated to undergo intercourse with him.”

Croft alleged that in January 2014, Dolan helped organize for her to journey to Los Angeles to affix the tour. There, Croft alleged, she met Weinstein at The Beverly Hills Lodge the place Dolan was paying for her to remain. Weinstein, she alleged, launched himself as certainly one of Dolan’s “finest associates,” then requested whether or not she was the therapeutic massage therapist that Dolan had talked about and beforehand praised.

She accused Weinstein of sexually assaulting her on the lodge, after which she knowledgeable Dolan, who allegedly responded by telling her that Weinstein was “a troubled individual” with “severe points.” The incident predated Weinstein being convicted for years of sexual abuse following investigative reviews in 2017 by each The New York Occasions and The New Yorker.

That alleged incident additionally predated remarks by Dolan that he was unaware Weinstein, who had been a detailed pal, was allegedly a serial abuser of girls. In 2018, Dolan, who served as a member of the board of administrators of The Weinstein Firm in 2015 and 2016, launched a music together with his band titled, “I Ought to’ve Recognized,” which he later linked, partially, to Weinstein.

ESPN usually doesn’t title victims of sexual assaults, however Croft issued a public assertion Tuesday, saying partially, “James Dolan manipulated me, introduced me to California to abuse me, after which set me up for a vicious assault by Weinstein. My hope is that my lawsuit will drive Dolan to acknowledge what he did to me and to take accountability for the hurt he has induced.”

Croft, now 38, is looking for a jury trial and unspecified damages.

E. Danya Perry, an lawyer for Dolan, dismissed the allegations.

“There may be completely no advantage to any of the allegations in opposition to Mr. Dolan. Kellye Croft and James Dolan had a friendship,” Perry wrote in an announcement supplied to ESPN. “The references to Harvey Weinstein are merely meant to inflame and look like plagiarized from prior circumstances in opposition to Mr. Weinstein. These claims replicate an act of retaliation by an lawyer who has introduced a number of circumstances in opposition to Mr. Dolan and has not gained, and can’t win, a judgment in opposition to him. Mr. Dolan all the time believed Ms. Croft to be a great individual and is stunned she would agree to those claims.

“Backside line, this isn’t a he mentioned/she mentioned matter and there may be compelling proof to again up our place. We stay up for proving that in courtroom.”

Jennifer Bonjean, a lawyer for Weinstein, mentioned in an announcement supplied to ESPN that Weinstein “vehemently denies the meritless allegations within the lately filed lawsuit. We stay up for litigating this case in a courtroom of legislation the place the reality will likely be revealed.”

Weinstein, who was initially sentenced to 23 years in jail for sexual assault, had a further 16 years added on final yr for rape and sexual assault in a separate case.

Throughout a information convention Tuesday to announce that the 2026 NBA All-Star Recreation will likely be held on the LA Clippers’ soon-to-open Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, NBA commissioner Adam Silver responded to an ESPN reporter’s query in regards to the lawsuit.

“I noticed the article and do not know the rest about it apart from I learn the article,” Silver mentioned, “so we’ll stand by and wait to search out out extra data.”

In an announcement to ESPN, Douglas H. Wigdor, a lawyer for Croft, responded to Silver’s remarks.

“That may be a puzzling response for the Commissioner to make,” Wigdor instructed ESPN. “No respected chairperson in company America would ‘stand by’ and ‘wait’ after studying {that a} federal grievance was filed in opposition to certainly one of their executives alleging sexual assault and intercourse trafficking. The NBA and the NHL for that matter must be no completely different. We’re totally ready to take part in any truthful and unbiased investigation by each commissioners as these allegations are related to the integrity and public confidence of the respective leagues.”

ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk contributed to this report.