Getty (3rd L-R) Executive chairman and CEO of The Madison Square Garden Company and executive chairman of MSG Networks James L. Dolan, model Marcela Braga and Tao Group partner Jason Strauss attend a game between the New York Knicks and the Phoenix Suns during the 2019 NBA Summer League.
New York Knicks owner James Dolan is facing a federal lawsuit accusing him of pressuring a massage therapist into unwanted sex and coordinating an encounter with media mogul Harvey Weinstein, who was accused of sexual assault, according to a January 16 report by Deadline.
The incident occurred in 2013 and 2014 when Kellye Croft was hired to work as a massage therapist on tour with the classic rock band the Eagles, according to the complaint document obtained by Deadline.
In the court filing, Croft, who was 27 at that time, described the gig as an “unprecedented opportunity” that she readily accepted. The dream gig turned into a nightmare, though, and led her into drug and alcohol abuse to cope with the trauma she experienced under Dolan and Weinstein, according to the complaint.
The document indicates Croft met Dolan during the Eagles tour, where he was singing with the opening act, his band JD & the Straight Shot.
Initially hired to be a tour masseuse for Eagles band member the late Glenn Frey, Croft was allowed to book other appointments from other members of the tour, which included Dolan, whom she said she did not know at that time wields immense power and funded the concert tour, according to the complaint.
Croft said in the lawsuit that Dolan interceded for her in a dispute with the tour manager, Tom Golseth, who hired her and was later fired. Golseth’s firing ostracized her from other tour members, the complaint says, and Dolan comforted her during his first massage service with her and told her, “I will make sure this is taken care of.”
Croft dismissed Dolan’s statement but later she realized how powerful the Knicks owner was when Frey went out of his way to profusely apologize to her, the complaint indicates.
Kellye Croft Called James Dolan ‘Extremely Manipulative’
According to the court filing, Croft said the first unwanted sexual encounter happened soon after when Dolan booked her services for the second time.
Near the end of the massage, according to the complaint, Dolan pulled Croft toward him and she tried to push him away, but Dolan then grabbed Croft’s hands, dragging her to a couch in the same room.
“Croft was adamant that she did not want to have any sexual interactions with Dolan, who was married at the time and over thirty years older than [she],” the complaint alleges. But she felt pressured and manipulated to submit to Dolan’s advances because of Frey’s apology, an indication of Dolan’s immense power over everyone’s position on the tour, according to the court document.
Croft felt obligated to submit to Dolan’s advances multiple times for the remainder of the tour, the complaint indicates.
Croft described Dolan in the lawsuit as “extremely manipulative.” She said Dolan constantly reminded her of the way he “fixed” the situation with Golseth for her, the document indicates.
He also regularly namedropped famous celebrities and sports stars he said were his friends, according to the complaint. Although Dolan claimed to be sober, Croft indicated in the complaint that she saw “multiple bottles of Valium and Ambien in Dolan’s possession.”
Croft Alleges Dolan ‘Trafficked’ Her for Sex
In 2014, Dolan arranged for Croft to join the Eagles and tour again in Los Angeles to perform legal massage services for the band and other tour members. But the lawsuit alleges Croft “was flown out to Los Angeles for the purposes of engaging in unwanted sexual acts with Dolan” and that “she was being trafficked by Dolan.”
On the same trip, Croft said she met Weinstein, who bragged that Dolan was one of his “best friends” in an elevator encounter that led to a sexual assault by Weinstein against Croft, according to the complaint.
While waiting for the elevator at her hotel, Weinstein initiated a conversation and asked her, “Who is that to-go box for?” according to the document. Croft responded that it was for her friend, Dolan, who was also staying at the hotel, to complaint indicates. The media mogul then invited her to his room to discuss a job opportunity to perform massages to actors on their movie sets, according to the complaint.
Croft’s Complaint Alleges Harvey Weinstein Sexually Assaulted Her in a Hotel Room
The complaint alleges that while in the living room of Weinstein’s suite, Weinstein pressured Croft into changing clothes, referencing one of his shows “Project Runway” to coerce her into doing it in front of him, even flattering her with Reese Witherspoon comparison. But Croft insisted on changing clothes in the bathroom, according to the document.
Later in the conversation, Weinstein asked Croft to perform a massage, which she refused to do on the bed and insisted must be done on her massage table, according to the complaint. She talked her way out of Weinstein’s advances and walked out toward her room only to be chased by Weinstein, who sexually assaulted her in her room, the lawsuit alleges.
The complaint alleges that Weinstein backed Croft onto the bed, forced her down and assaulted her, only stopping when Dolan called her room’s telephone.
Croft reported the incident to Dolan, the complaint indicates, but the Knicks owner dismissed it. She described Dolan as “not at all surprised” and said he told her that Weinstein “was ‘a troubled person’ that had a lot of ‘serious issues,’ but that his friends were ‘trying to get him to address’ those issues,” the complaint alleges.
The day after the alleged sexual assault, Croft felt so physically and emotionally unwell that she called out sick from work and left the tour soon after “heartbroken and traumatized,” according to the complaint.
Croft went home to Tennessee and tried to continue her career but “she would often have panic attacks” before her massage appointments, the complaint states, adding that she turned to alcohol and drug abuse to deal with her trauma and “later required extensive rehabilitation to cope with her depression and the related substance use.”
Croft is seeking punitive and exemplary damages along with monetary compensation for the “mental pain, anguish, severe emotional distress and economic harm,” the complaint indicates.