Trump Lawyer’s Initial Play in Ex-NBA Player Sex Suit Flops – Sportico
By Daniel Libit
Sports Investigative Reporter
A federal judge ruled last month that a woman who claims former NBA first-round draft choice Josh Jackson sexually assaulted her in a New York City hotel, after they met at a 2022 Super Bowl party, can proceed in her case under the pseudonym Jane Doe.
That decision, from U.S. District Court Judge Andrew L. Carter, denied a request by Jackson’s attorney, John Lauro, to force the accuser to be named. Lauro, in addition to representing Jackson, has gained national attention for helming the legal defense of Donald Trump in the former president’s federal election case being brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith. The attorney also previously represented disgraced NBA referee Tim Donaghy against criminal gambling charges.
In the civil suit against Jackson, Lauro had specifically argued to the court that the plaintiff’s claim the basketball player had raped her was undermined by a complaint she filed with police, which lists the name of her alleged perpetrator as “KTD.”
Lauro, in a July 17 letter to Judge Carter, erroneously wrote that the police report identified the accused party as “KJD,” as opposed to “KTD.” Noting that Jackson has never been arrested or questioned in connection to the matter, Lauro wrote: “That, of course, makes sense because Jackson’s initials are not ‘KJD.’ Thus, plaintiff’s offer of ‘evidence’ undermines her sordid allegations and reinforces the need for Jackson to have plaintiff named publicly so he can request public assistance determining who ‘KJD’ might be.”
Lauro tried to make a similar point while issuing defamation lawsuit threats to the plaintiff’s counsel, Seamus Barrett, as well as to Sportico, which was the first outlet to report on the lawsuit. After Sportico published a story about the case in early August, Lauro sent a letter demanding a retraction of the article, contending that it was “per se defamatory.”
“[T]he Article fails to mention that the police report includes the initials ‘KTD’ as the alleged perpetrator,” Lauro wrote to Sportico. “To be clear, the report identifies an individual other than Mr. Jackson as the alleged perpetrator.”
However, as confirmed by an NYPD spokesperson, “KTD” is commonly used in its police reports as an acronym for “known to department,” as opposed to representing the actual initials of a subject.
Biographical details on the plaintiff’s police report—including height, age and race—match those of Jackson, as does a cell phone number listed as belonging to the alleged perpetrator.
Lauro, in his demand letter to Sportico, had asserted that the plaintiff “improperly” filed her complaint under a pseudonym, suggesting that it was unlikely the court would ultimately abide by this.
“The law prohibits anonymous complaints except in very limited circumstances in part to avoid this exact situation, where a party makes serious accusations from behind a cloak of anonymity to the detriment of another party,” Lauro wrote. “As a result of the article, Mr. Jackson is now on the receiving end of public condemnation and ridicule.”
In court pleadings on behalf of Jackson, Lauro contended that the plaintiff’s “provocative and sexualized social media presence” undermined “any legitimate interest in privacy.” He cited the fact that she had previously spoken publicly about a sexual relationship she had engaged in with another professional athlete.
“The public here will be focused not on any unique legal issues, but on the circumstances of a star athlete being accused of a sexual assault,” Lauro wrote to the court. “Thus, there is an overwhelming public interest in having these terrible accusations evaluated fairly in light of who is making them.”
The plaintiff’s side later decried Jackson’s arguments as a form of “slut-shaming and victim-blaming.”
Judge Carter eventually granted the plaintiff’s motion to proceed under a pseudonym on Sept. 29. However, due to the clerk of the court erroneously sealing the entire docket, the order was not entered into the record until Oct. 12.
According to her lawsuit, the plaintiff alleges that hours after being sexually assaulted by Jackson, her apartment was broken into by two of his acquaintances, who physically accosted and threatened her. The plaintiff said the individuals, who were later charged with larceny and criminal trespassing, had explicitly told her that they had come to reclaim a watch belonging to Jackson.
“Mr. Jackson denies the allegations made by this anonymous plaintiff and looks forward to addressing this matter in court,” Lauro told Sportico in a statement this week. “It is completely unfair and irresponsible for these accusations to be published when the accuser had not been identified, and as a result, Mr. Jackson is unable to defend himself fully. Mr. Jackson has never been contacted by the police in connection with this matter, regardless of any police reports having been filed or the use of any internal police abbreviations.”
Jackson, a former standout at Kansas, was selected No. 4 by the Phoenix Suns in the 2017 NBA Draft and was named All-Rookie Second Team. But despite early hype, Jackson failed to live up to expectations and has been widely derided as one of the bigger draft disappointments in recent history. His last known professional basketball foray came in January, when he was signed and then subsequently waived by the Sacramento Kings’ G League affiliate.
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