The Albany Gazette - Weinstein, media and sports boss James Dolan sued for sexual assault

In the lawsuit, plaintiff Kellye Croft says Dolan -- the billionaire behind MSG as well as the professional Knicks basketball and Rangers hockey teams -- coerced her into an unwanted sexual relationship in 2013, before arranging an encounter with Weinstein, who is now a convicted rapist.

Both Dolan and Weinstein deny the accusations.

A decade ago Dolan had hired Croft as a masseuse to Glenn Frey -- a founding member of the rock band Eagles, who died in 2016 -- when she was 27 and he was 58.

In the court documents filed in a Los Angeles federal district court, Croft's job is described as a dream gig that bore painful consequences at the hands of two powerful men, Dolan and Weinstein, who at the time ruled media and entertainment.

Dolan began scheduling massages with Croft, who says the CEO was "extremely assertive" and "extremely manipulative," repeatedly pressuring her into unwanted sex over the course of the tour.

"She felt obligated to submit to sex with him," reads the suit.

The suit says Croft rejoined the tour in January 2014 in Los Angeles, where the Eagles had a residency. The suit alleges trafficking insofar as Dolan, now 68, facilitated her transport across state lines "for purposes of sex induced by force, fraud, or coercion."

Once in California she alleges Dolan coordinated an encounter between Croft and Weinstein, the now-disgraced former Hollywood titan who has been convicted in multiple courts of sexual violence and rape, with scores of women speaking out against him.

Croft attempted to flee a situation in which Weinstein asked her to try on clothes in his presence and give him a massage, but he followed her in a bathrobe and forced his way into the room, the suit says.

Weinstein then began to sexually assault her before the phone rang, and it was Dolan on the line, the suit says.

"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 told Croft, according to the suit.

In a statement through her lawyer, Croft, now 38, said "James Dolan manipulated me, brought me to California to abuse me and then set me up for a vicious attack by Weinstein."

- 'He did know' -

Weinstein, 71, is currently serving a 23-year sentence for sex crimes imposed by a New York court. He was also sentenced to 16 years by a Los Angeles court for rape, which he will serve after the New York term.

His lawyer did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment, but denied the accusations in The New York Times.

Dolan's lawyer said "there is absolutely no merit" to the accusations against the sports and media executive, and said including Weinstein "are meant to inflame and appear to be plagiarized from prior cases."

"Dolan always believed Ms. Croft to be a good person and is surprised she would agree to these claims," the statement said.

In 2018, after an avalanche of accusations had accumulated against Weinstein, Dolan attempted to distance himself from his one-time close friend, for whom he had once served as a board member of the Weinstein Company.

That year Dolan -- who moonlights as a musician, and cast his own band as an opening act for the Eagles -- released the song "I Should've Known" with his band JD & the Straight Shot.

"I should've known / I should've thrown / Myself across his tracks / Stopped him from these vile attacks," read the lyrics.

The lines are included in the suit filed by Croft, who calls them a "blatant lie."

"He did know," reads the suit.

(E.Taylor--TAG)