According to a report in Williamette Week, a publication based in Portland, Oregon, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was accused of sexual assault by a woman in 2011, after an alleged incident in a Portland bar.
According to the report, in May 2011 a woman (who WW did not name) reported an assault by Cuban. The woman claims that, while the two posed for a photograph together, Cuban thrust his hand down the back of her pants, and penetrated her vagina with his finger.
Cuban emailed the Associated Press late Tuesday night, and wrote "It didn't happen." He was never charged, after he passed a polygraph test and police determined there was insufficient evidence.
Cuban was in Portland that night as the Mavericks faced the Portland Trailblazers in a playoff series.
From the WW report:
"[A]round 2 am, the woman said, she and her friend went to pay their tab and encountered Cuban, who was standing by himself.
"It was apparent he was very drunk," the woman's friend later told police. "His eyes were half closed, he was unstable on his feet, and he was slurring his words."
The alleged victim asked Cuban to pose for a picture.
She told police that Cuban initially placed his right hand on her lower back.
"He then moved his hand down until it was on her buttocks," according to McGuire's summary of the alleged victim's statement. "Cuban then pushed his hand down the back of her jeans and inside her underwear where he cupped his hand over her groin area and inserted the tip of his finger into her vagina."
In a report explaining why they weren't pursuing the case, prosecutors wrote that "there is no evidence to corroborate the complainant's statement and there is evidence contradicting the claim." The report also said the woman didn't want to proceed with the allegation.
This comes just weeks after a bombshell Sports Illustrated report, alleging sexual harrassment and domestic violence issues within the Mavericks organization. The SI report included claims of inappropriate sexual conduct by former CEO Terdema Ussery and raised questions about what Cuban knew and when.
