The NBA announced that plans to begin an independent investigation into the allegations that Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban sexually assaulted a Portland woman in 2011. The alleged assault was made public Tuesday when the Willamette Week published a report detailing the incident.
Cuban has since denied the allegations.
According to the report, while posing for a picture with a woman outside a Portland bar, Cuban put his hands down her pants and made inappropriate contact with the woman.
The report in the Willamette Week reveals that the Multnomah County District Attorney’s office concluded that there was “no corroborative evidence to support the complainant’s allegation.”
Detective Brenda McGuire, who worked the case in 2011, recommended the case be suspended due to the “lack of physical or substantial circumstantial evidence.”
The League’s investigation will also extend into why the DA’s office did not further pursue the case leading to its eventual dismissal.
Following from the Washington Post,
League spokesman Mike Bass said Wednesday the NBA was looking into the matter, a day after a weekly alternative newspaper in Portland, Oregon, reported a woman’s claim that Cuban put his hands down her pants and touched her inappropriately while they were taking a photo at a Portland nightclub.
“The NBA league office is reviewing the 2011 allegations against Mark Cuban and the subsequent findings from the Portland police investigation,” Bass said.
The report from the Portland-based newspaper comes weeks after Sports Illustrated released an in-depth investigative report of alleged misogyny and sexual assault that permeated the Mavericks organization.
“I mean, this is, obviously there’s a problem in the Mavericks organization, and we’ve got to fix it,” Cuban said in response to the SI story. “That’s it. And we’re going to take every step. It’s not something we tolerate. I don’t want it. It’s not something that’s acceptable. I’m embarrassed, to be honest with you, that it happened under my ownership, and it needs to be fixed. Period. End of story.”
