On Saturday, the NBA world was rocked when news broke that the New York police department were reportedly investigating sexual assault allegations lodged against Mavericks center Kristaps Porzingis.
The report stated that hours after the then-New York Knicks star suffered a season-ending injury last year, he allegedly assaulted an unnamed woman in his Manhattan apartment.
According to New York Post reporter Tina Moore, investigators found her claim “believable.”
As for why she waited until now to drop these allegations, it was reportedly because Porzingis offered her $68,000, contingent on her silence, “to pay for her brother’s college tuition, but then reneged.”
Via NY Post:
“The FBI is investigating “the accuser’s extortionate demands,” the player’s lawyer said in a statement Saturday night.
The alleged attack happened Feb. 7, 2018, at the soaring Sky building in Midtown West, the woman told cops after walking into the 10th Precinct station house, the sources told The Post.
The woman — who is in her 20s and also lived in the building — told cops the NBA star visited her apartment at around 2 a.m. and that she accepted his invitation to go back to his posh pad.
Once inside, the towering, 7-foot-3 Latvian allegedly held her down and raped her, she told cops, according to sources.”
It gets even worse:
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Porzingis has denied all allegations via his lawyer, Roland G. Riopelle:
“We made a formal referral to federal law enforcement on December 20th, 2018, based on the accuser’s extortionate demands,” he said.
“We also alerted the National Basketball Association months ago and they are aware of the ongoing investigation of the accuser by federal law enforcement. We cannot comment further on an ongoing federal investigation,” Riopelle said.
“We have been instructed by federal authorities not to comment,” Mavericks owner Mark Cuban told The Post in an e-mail, which he CC’d to NBA officials and Porzingis’ reps.
