Baxter Holmes, ESPN Senior Essayist
A Tennessee girl filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday accusing James Dolan, chairman of Madison Sq. Grassland and governor of the New York Knicks and New York Rangers, of pressuring her into unwelcome intercourse just about a decade in the past week additionally facilitating an come across with disgraced Hollywood manufacturer Harvey Weinstein, whom she additionally claimed sexually assaulted her.
Within the lawsuit, filed in the US District Courtroom for the Central District of California and got by means of ESPN, Kellye Croft says she was once 27 and dealing as an authorized therapeutic massage therapist when she met Dolan within the fall of 2013 week on a excursion with a rock band, the Eagles. (Dolan’s band, JD & The Instantly Shot, opened for the Eagles all through the excursion.)
All the way through one come across, the lawsuit alleges, Dolan turned into “extremely assertive, and pressured Ms. Croft into unwanted sexual intercourse with him.” In next encounters, the lawsuit alleges, Croft was once summoned to Dolan’s room, the place he made “unwelcome advances toward Ms. Croft, and she felt obligated to submit to sex with him.”
In January 2014, Croft alleged that Dolan helped organize for her to go to Los Angeles to tie the excursion. There, Kroft alleges that she met Weinstein on the Beverly Hills lodge the place Dolan was once paying for her to stick. Weinstein, she alleged, presented himself as certainly one of Dolan’s “best friends,” nearest requested if she was once the therapeutic massage therapist that Dolan had discussed and in the past praised.
She accused Weinstein of sexually assaulting her on the lodge, next which she knowledgeable Dolan, who allegedly answered by means of telling her that Weinstein was once “a troubled person” with “serious issues.” The incident predated Weinstein being convicted for years of sexual abuse following investigative reviews in 2017 by means of each The Untouched York Instances and The Untouched Yorker novel.
That alleged incident additionally predated remarks by means of Dolan that he was once unaware that Weinstein, who were a near buddy, was once allegedly a serial abuser of ladies. In 2018, Dolan, who served as a member of the board of administrators of The Weinstein Corporate in 2015 and 2016, exempt a track together with his band titled, “I Should’ve Known,” which he then attached, partly, to Weinstein.
ESPN usually does no longer identify sufferers of sexual attacks, however Croft issued a population observation Tuesday, pronouncing partly, “James Dolan manipulated me, brought me to California to abuse me, and then set me up for a vicious attack by Weinstein. My hope is that my lawsuit will force Dolan to acknowledge what he did to me and to take responsibility for the harm he has caused.”
Croft, now 38, is looking for a jury trial and unspecified damages.
E. Danya Perry, an legal professional for Dolan, brushed aside the allegations.
“There is absolutely no merit to any of the allegations against Mr. Dolan. Kellye Croft and James Dolan had a friendship,” Perry wrote in a observation supplied to ESPN. “The references to Harvey Weinstein are simply meant to inflame and appear to be plagiarized from prior cases against Mr. Weinstein. These claims reflect an act of retaliation by an attorney who has brought multiple cases against Mr. Dolan and has not won, and cannot win, a judgment against him. Mr. Dolan always believed Ms. Croft to be a good person and is surprised she would agree to these claims.
“Base order, this isn’t a he mentioned/she mentioned topic and there may be compelling proof to again up our place. We sit up for proving that during courtroom.”
Jennifer Bonjean, a lawyer for Weinstein, said in a statement provided to ESPN that Weinstein “vehemently denies the meritless allegations within the just lately filed lawsuit. We sit up for litigating this situation in a courtroom of legislation the place the reality shall be observable.”
Weinstein, who was originally sentenced to 23 years in prison for sexual assault, had an additional 16 years added on last year for rape and sexual assault in a separate case.
During a news conference Tuesday to announce that the 2026 NBA All-Star Game will be held at the LA Clippers ‘ soon-to-open Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif., NBA Commissioner Adam Silver addressed the lawsuit, saying he had only read an article but knew nothing more.
“We’ll get up by means of and wait to determine additional info,” Silver said, in part.
In a statement to ESPN, Douglas H. Wigdor, a lawyer for Croft, responded to Silver’s remarks.
“That may be a puzzling reaction for the Commissioner to form,” Wigdor told ESPN. “Deny respected chairperson in company The us would ‘get up by means of’ and ‘wait’ next studying {that a} federal criticism was once filed towards certainly one of their executives alleging sexual attack and intercourse trafficking. The NBA and the NHL for that topic will have to be refuse other. We’re absolutely ready to take part in any truthful and independent investigation by means of each commissioners as those allegations are related to the integrity and population self belief of the respective leagues.”
ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk contributed to this document.
