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Michael Rothstein, ESPN Employees AuthorJan 15, 2025, 01:00 PM ET
- Michael Rothstein is a reporter for NFL Nation at ESPN. Rothstein covers the Atlanta Falcons. You possibly can observe him through Twitter @MikeRothstein.
A lady who accused Conor McGregor of sexually assaulting her after an NBA Finals recreation in 2023 has filed a lawsuit in opposition to the previous UFC star.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, additionally alleges that the workers and safety of the Kaseya Heart, the house enviornment of the Miami Heat, dedicated gross negligence.
The lady, who’s described within the lawsuit as a 49-year-old resident of Miami-Dade County who works as a vp on Wall Avenue at a “excessive profile monetary establishment,” alleges that McGregor sexually assaulted her in a toilet within the enviornment after Recreation 4 of the Warmth’s NBA Finals sequence in opposition to the Denver Nuggets on June 9, 2023.
The civil swimsuit stems from the identical criminal sexual assault allegation in opposition to McGregor filed in June 2023. An incident report was filed with town of Miami’s police division June 11, 2023, at 6 p.m., lower than 48 hours after the alleged sexual assault occurred. The Florida State Lawyer’s Workplace declined to go forward with charges within the alleged assault in October 2023.
“After an intensive investigation on the time, the State’s Lawyer concluded that there was no case to pursue,” McGregor’s legal professional, Barbara Llanes, mentioned in an emailed assertion to ESPN. “Virtually two years and at the least three attorneys later the plaintiff has a brand new false story. We’re assured that this case too will probably be dismissed.”
A Warmth spokesperson instructed ESPN in an e-mail that the group doesn’t touch upon litigation.
McGregor, now 36, additionally denied the allegations in 2023, when Llanes instructed ESPN that the previous UFC light-weight and featherweight champion “won’t be intimidated.”
The lawsuit seeks medical remedy prices, compensatory damages and different aid from the Warmth and McGregor as deemed affordable.
The lady’s legal professional, Jim Dunn, wrote in an e-mail to ESPN that his consumer is pursing the civil case to “increase consciousness and encourage others to report sexual assault.”
“My consumer has thought lengthy and exhausting concerning the choice to pursue this civil case, and is scared of the impact it could have on her job on Wall Avenue,” Dunn mentioned. “Nonetheless, her principal aim in submitting this swimsuit is to boost consciousness and encourage others to report sexual assault.”
The criticism, which was filed Tuesday within the U.S. District Courtroom, Southern District of Florida, alleges that McGregor “deliberately engaged in illegal sexual contact” with out the lady’s “consent or permission.”
After the Nuggets-Warmth recreation, the lawsuit alleges McGregor and the lady started speaking within the Courtside Membership inside Kaseya Heart. An acquaintance of the lady mentioned she and the lady have been leaving when a member of McGregor’s staff is alleged to have instructed the lady that “Conor instructed me to come back get you” after which grabbed the lady by the wrist. The lady alleges that she requested to be let go and was instructed, “No, Conor will kill me if I lose you.”
The lawsuit alleges that McGregor grabbed the lady’s hand or wrist in entrance of the lads’s restroom and led her into the restroom and that her acquaintance adopted her. The lady was then allegedly led right into a stall, the place the lawsuit alleges Kaseya Heart safety and/or workers wouldn’t permit the acquaintance to observe. McGregor then assaulted the lady contained in the stall, based on the lawsuit.
Dunn instructed ESPN in a separate cellphone interview that his consumer filed the civil swimsuit as a result of it’s “the one avenue she has to pursue justice,” after Miami-Dade County determined to not go ahead with prison prices. The statute of limitations in a civil case alleging gross negligence is 2 years.
The lawsuit additionally mentions an earlier incident with McGregor that night, when he twice punched the Warmth mascot, “Burnie,” throughout an on-court skit selling a ache aid spray — sending the person to the hospital. The swimsuit alleges the mascot’s accidents have been identified to enviornment workers however to not most people in the course of the recreation.
Dunn alleged that McGregor bought particular remedy from the world workers as a result of he was allowed to remain within the enviornment and was nonetheless served alcohol after the incident with Burnie, which occurred earlier than the alleged assault of the lady. The lawsuit alleges, subsequently, that Kaseya Heart workers “had chargeable data of a heightened threat of battery being carried out” by McGregor.
McGregor final fought within the UFC in July 2021, a TKO loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in Las Vegas.