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 Courtroom 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 Resort the place Dolan was paying for her to remain. Weinstein, she alleged, launched himself as one in every of Dolan’s “finest mates,” 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 particular person” with “critical points.” The incident predated Weinstein being convicted for years of sexual abuse following investigative experiences 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 an in depth buddy, was allegedly a serial abuser of ladies. In 2018, Dolan, who served as a member of the board of administrators of The Weinstein Firm in 2015 and 2016, launched a music along with his band titled, “I Ought to’ve Identified,” which he later related, partly, to Weinstein.
ESPN sometimes doesn’t identify victims of sexual assaults, however Croft issued a public assertion Tuesday, saying partly, “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 pressure Dolan to acknowledge what he did to me and to take accountability for the hurt he has precipitated.”
Croft, now 38, is searching for a jury trial and unspecified damages.
E. Danya Perry, an legal professional for Dolan, dismissed the allegations.
“There may be completely no benefit to any of the allegations in opposition to Mr. Dolan. Kellye Croft and James Dolan had a friendship,” Perry wrote in a press release 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 legal professional 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 at all times believed Ms. Croft to be an excellent particular person and is shocked she would agree to those claims.
“Backside line, this isn’t a he mentioned/she mentioned matter and there’s compelling proof to again up our place. We stay up for proving that in courtroom.”
Jennifer Bonjean, a lawyer for Weinstein, mentioned in a press release supplied to ESPN that Weinstein “vehemently denies the meritless allegations within the just lately filed lawsuit. We stay up for litigating this case in a courtroom of regulation the place the reality shall be revealed.”
Weinstein, who was initially sentenced to 23 years in jail for sexual assault, had an extra 16 years added on final 12 months for rape and sexual assault in a separate case.
Throughout a information convention Tuesday to announce that the 2026 NBA All-Star Sport shall 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 anything about it aside from I learn the article,” Silver mentioned, “so we’ll stand by and wait to seek out out extra data.”
In a press release 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 informed ESPN. “No respected chairperson in company America would ‘stand by’ and ‘wait’ after studying {that a} federal grievance was filed in opposition to one in every of their executives alleging sexual assault and intercourse trafficking. The NBA and the NHL for that matter needs to be no totally 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.