Great news for lovers of justice (and casual fans of the director’s cut of “Love & Basketball”) — Isiah Thomas will soon have an opportunity to fully disprove the scurrilous charges of ass-grabbery that have plagued him since last year. From the New York Post’s Kati Cornell.
Knicks coach and general manager Isiah Thomas will have to defend himself in federal court against charges that he sexually harassed a female former team executive – allowing a jury, and the public, to hear all the steamy details of the sensational case, a judge ruled yesterday.
Manhattan federal Judge Gerald Lynch weighed in on the case just days after Madison Square Garden and Thomas’ accuser, former exec Anucha Brown Sanders, turned up the heat in their legal battle by hurling fresh allegations of sexual misconduct and fraud in newly unsealed court papers.
“This is going to be a really interesting, factual dispute for the jury to figure out what happened,” said Manhattan federal Judge Gerald Lynch.
MSG lawyers had tried to have the case tossed, accusing Sanders of trying to obstruct an internal probe into sexual harassment by forcing employees to detail charges supporting her case. Those charges include a claim that Knicks star Stephon Marbury had sex with a staffer.
MSG also has accused Sanders of cheating on her taxes by listing more than $70,000 in deductions for a home-based marketing business she claimed to run while working for the Knicks – a business she now denies ever operating.
Indeed, there’s only so much moonlighting a world-class operation like Cablevision can tolerate.