2024-01-17 07:58:27
In a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday, a Tennessee woman alleged that James Dolan, the owner of the New York Knicks and New York Rangers, pressured her into sex and that the former movie producer Harvey Weinstein sexually assaulted her a decade ago.
“I have suffered so profoundly because of what James Dolan and Harvey Weinstein did to me years ago, and it was not an easy decision to come forward and seek justice,” the woman, Kellye Croft, said in a statement. “But for me, to truly address my trauma, I need to seek accountability. 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.”
Both Dolan and Weinstein have denied the allegations through their lawyers. The lawsuit was first reported by The New York Times.
According to the lawsuit, filed in California, Croft was a massage therapist working on a concert tour with the Eagles in 2013. She met Dolan on that tour with his band, JD & The Straight Shot, which was an opening act for the Eagles.
While on tour, as a consensual massage neared its end, Dolan pulled Croft to him and put her hands between his knees, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit says Croft was “adamant that she did not want to have any sexual interactions with Dolan.”
“Following this unwanted sexual contact, Ms. Croft was summoned to Dolan’s room multiple times during the remainder of that part of the tour. On each of these occasions, Dolan made unwelcome advances toward Ms. Croft, and she felt obligated to submit to sex with him,” the suit says.
According to the lawsuit, in January 2014, Dolan and music manager Irving Azoff flew Croft to Los Angeles, with Azoff’s corporate entities paying for Croft’s travel. Croft says she believed she was headed to California to continue working as the Eagles’ masseuse. The band was still on tour with JD & The Straight Shot.
Days later, according to the lawsuit, Dolan encouraged Croft to join two assistants from Irving Azoff Management for shopping and dinner in Los Angeles. Upon returning to her hotel after going out for dinner, Croft was waiting for the elevator when a man asked her, “Who is that to-go box for?”
The man asking the question, according to the lawsuit, was Weinstein, the former movie producer who was later convicted of sex crimes. When Croft said the food was for her friend, Dolan, Weinstein told Croft that the sports mogul was “one of his best friends,” according to the lawsuit. He then asked her if she was “the massage therapist,” saying that Dolan had mentioned his massage therapist and said great things about her.
According to the lawsuit, Weinstein said he may have work opportunities to offer Croft, helping with massage therapy for actors on his movie sets. He then invited Croft to his hotel room to talk.
According to the lawsuit, Weinstein requested for Croft to give him a massage, though Croft declined, saying she is particular about the types of massage tables she uses. Weinstein later went to the bathroom and returned wearing “a loosely tied bathrobe,” the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit says Weinstein again asked for a massage, and after Croft again refused and attempted to leave the room, Weinstein blocked the door. Upon explaining again that she needed her massage table, Weinstein let her leave the room but followed her down the hallway.
According to the suit, Weinstein stuck his foot into the door of Croft’s room as she attempted to close it, entered the room, then assaulted her.
A phone call from Dolan to Croft’s room interrupted the encounter, according to the lawsuit, and Croft picked up the phone and told Dolan she would see him shortly.
“After hearing her speak to Dolan, Weinstein backed off of Ms. Croft,” the lawsuit says. “He then stated to her, ‘Well, you know Jim and I are best friends. He’s going to be very disappointed that you led me on, this won’t look good for you.’ Weinstein then left Ms. Croft’s hotel room.”
According to the lawsuit, Croft told Dolan about the alleged assault immediately afterward, and Dolan “readily admitted to Ms. Croft that he knew all about Weinstein’s history of assaulting and sexually abusing women, telling her that, ‘we all know’ that Weinstein ‘has problems.’”
Weinstein is serving 23 years in New York prison for a rape and sexual assault conviction in 2020. In 2022, he was found guilty of sex crimes in California and sentenced to 16 years. The sentences are to be served separately. Both cases are under appeal.
The suit lists multiple defendants, including Dolan, Weinstein, JD & The Straight Shot and The Azoff Company, among others.
“There is absolutely no merit to any of the allegations against Mr. Dolan,” Dolan’s lawyer E. Danya Perry said in a statement provided to The Athletic. “Kellye Croft and James Dolan had a friendship. The references to Harvey Weinstein are simply meant to inflame and appear to be plagiarized from prior cases against Mr. Weinstein.”
Weinstein’s lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, was unavailable when contacted by The Athletic on Tuesday evening but released a statement to other media outlets earlier in the day.
“Mr. Weinstein vehemently denies these meritless allegations and looks forward to litigating these claims in a court of law where the truth will be revealed,” Bonjean said in a statement, according to The Associated Press.
One of the law firms representing Croft, Wigdor LLP, has represented clients in cases against Dolan before.
It currently represents former Knicks big man Charles Oakley in the case Oakley brought against Madison Square Garden after Dolan had him ejected from the stands of a game in 2017. Douglas H. Wigdor and Kevin Mintzer, two lawyers for Croft, have represented nine of Weinstein’s accusers.
“It is time to finally hold Dolan accountable for his outrageous conduct,” Wigdor said in a statement.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver fielded a question about the allegations against Dolan during a news conference Tuesday afternoon but declined to comment.
“I saw the article and don’t know anything else about it other than I read the article,” Silver said. “We’ll stand by and wait to find out more information.”
In 2007, former Knicks executive Anucha Browne Sanders sued the team’s former general manager, Isiah Thomas, as well as Madison Square Garden, the corporation that owns the Knicks and is run by Dolan, for sexual harassment. She won the lawsuit, and Dolan was ordered to pay Sanders $11.6 million.
(Photo of James Dolan: Paul Bereswill / Getty Images)
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