Massage therapist refiles rape claims against Harvey Weinstein, Knicks owner James Dolan in New York

Kellye Croft initially accused the men of sexual assault in a 2024 federal sex trafficking complaint that was dismissed.MANHATTAN (CN) — A Tennessee woman on Friday accused disgraced Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein and James Dolan, the billionaire owner of Madison Square Garden and the New York Knicks, of sexually assaulting her more than a decade ago.Kellye Croft says she was a 27-year-old licensed massage therapist when she met Dolan in the fall of 2013 while his rock band was on tour with the Eagles.“Dolan’s financial dealings allowed him to place his mediocre vanity project band, JD & the Straight Shot, as the opening act for the Eagles,” Croft claims in the 30-page complaint, filed in New York County Supreme Court.It was during that time she claims Dolan leaned on their power imbalance and “physically forced himself onto her during a professional massage session in Miami.” Dolan then “continued this unwanted sexual intercourse with Ms. Croft in California” during another leg of the tour, she claims.“Croft did not want to have sexual and intimate contact with a man twice her age whom she did not find remotely attractive,” she adds. “But given Dolan’s power, she was terrified of upsetting him by rejecting his sexual demands.”In California, Croft claims Dolan then “set her up for his good friend Harvey Weinstein’s sexual gratification,” which led to a “harrowing assault” by Weinstein in her hotel room in 2014. Weinstein supposedly told Croft “we always need massage therapists on set for actors and actresses” and invited her to his suite under the guise of talking about job opportunities.Instead, she says Weinstein made sexual advances and she left to go to her own hotel room. Weinstein, clad in a loosely tied bathrobe, followed her to her room and assaulted her there, Croft claims.She says she told Dolan what had happened several years before widespread claims of Weinstein’s sexual misconduct were made public.“Dolan told Ms. Croft that ‘we all know’ that Weinstein was a ’troubled person’ who ‘has problems,’ and insisted that ‘his friends’ were trying to get him ‘help,’” Croft claims.That contradicts Dolan’s later statements to the media that he was completely unaware of Weinstein’s behavior, Croft argues. Dolan “not only knew about it,” she says, but “facilitated and enabled” it by setting up her meeting with Weinstein.Croft is seeking damages after she says she turned to drugs and alcohol to cope with what Dolan and Weinstein had done to her, claiming she needed extensive rehabilitation for depression and substance abuse.She initially made these claims in a federal sex trafficking lawsuit in 2024. But U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson, a George W. Bush appointee in the Central District of California, dismissed her case, finding she failed to plausibly claim she was given anything of value that constituted a commercial sex act.Anderson dismissed the sex trafficking claims with prejudice but allowed Croft to refile the individual sexual assault and battery claims against Dolan and Weinstein.In a statement to Courthouse News, a spokesperson for Weinstein said Friday he denies Croft’s claims, as he did in 2024.“These are not new allegations,” said Weinstein’s spokesman Juda Engelmayer. “Ms. Croft previously brought these claims in federal court in California, and Harvey unequivocally denied them then and unequivocally denies them now. Harvey did not sexually assault or attempt to rape Ms. Croft. Refiling the allegations in a different court does not make them true. He will defend himself against these claims through the legal process.”A spokesperson for Dolan said in a statement the new lawsuit “has no merit — it was dismissed in the other courts and will be dismissed again.” He also denied the claims when they were brought in federal court two years ago.Weinstein is due in criminal court in Manhattan next week, where he’ll be sentenced for one criminal sex act charge against former production assistant Miriam “Mimi” Haley stemming from a retrial last year.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads