Mike Tyson’s lawyer expects to file an objection in the rape civil suit

Editor’s note: This story contains graphic descriptions of alleged sexual abuse that may be offensive to some readers or painful to survivors of sexual assault.

That Mike Tyson is getting ready to fight Jake Paulhis legal camp is preparing to fight a civil lawsuit in federal court accusing the former heavyweight champion of raping a woman more than 30 years ago.

While the original lawsuit was filed in January 2023, the most recent development came in June, when the woman who says Tyson brutally raped and sexually assaulted her in the early 1990s in the back of a limousine told the court that mistakenly quoted the wrong date of the alleged. assault, according to court records reviewed by USA TODAY Sports.

Tyson has denied the allegations, court records show. USA TODAY Sports attempted to ask Tyson about the lawsuit Friday during a video interview with the boxer. But Tyson’s publicist, Joann Mignano, cut her off, saying, “We’re not going to talk about it. Thank you. Next question.”

An amended complaint filed on behalf of the woman says she was raped by Tyson on March 1, 1990, not March 1, 1991, as stated in her original complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, court records show . The woman is seeking $5 million, according to court filings.

Tyson, 58, was convicted in 1992 of raping Desiree Washington, who was an 18-year-old contestant in the Miss Black America beauty pageant at the time of the attack. He served three years in prison.

His attorneys plan to file opposition briefs by Nov. 18 — three days after Tyson will fight Paul at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas — according to a copy of an Oct. 3 letter from the woman’s attorney to the presiding judge. the case.

The woman who sued Tyson filed the lawsuit under the Adult Survivors Act, which was passed in New York in May 2022 and allows alleged victims of sex crimes for whom the one-year statute of limitations has expired to file suit.

The court denied the woman, Christi Pinto’s, request to proceed anonymously. USA TODAY generally does not identify victims of alleged sex crimes.

No court date has been set.

Darren Seilback, an attorney representing Pinto, declined to comment Monday. Pinto did not respond to USA TODAY Sports requests for comment left via text, voicemail, email and Facebook.

Daniel SL Rubin, an attorney representing Tyson, did not respond to voicemails and emails from USA TODAY Sports seeking comment.

How might this issue affect the case?

The inconsistency of the data raises the question of credibility, according to New York attorney Alan Sash, who said he has represented plaintiffs and defendants in cases involving alleged sex crimes but is not connected to this case.

“The defendant will say, ‘Look, she’s not consistent with her dates, so maybe that means it never happened,'” Sash told USA TODAY Sports. “And the plaintiff will say, ‘This event happened decades ago, so if it was a specific day in 1991 and 1992, it’s irrelevant to the real issue of whether or not I was assaulted.’ “

Sash also said he does not believe the data inconsistency will be related to the plaintiff filing an amended complaint.

Effie Blassberger, a New York attorney with Clayman Rosenberg Kirshner & Linder, who is not involved in the case, said the issue with the incorrect date demonstrates the challenges involved in Adult Survivors Act cases for plaintiffs and defendants.

“Many of the plaintiffs we represent have tremendous guilt because they were initially too afraid to report their assault,” said Blassberger, who is representing actress Julia Ormond in a civil lawsuit accusing Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault in 1995. “For years now. later, the ASA and similar revival statutes provide these victims with the opportunity to hold their abusers and enablers accountable. In this case, where three decades have passed, it is understandable why the date in the complaint was incorrect and this fact should not be. undermines the applicant’s credibility”.

But Blassberger also addresses the “defendant’s perspective,” saying, “Not only has the vast passage of time since 1990 or 1991 affected witness memories and evidence preservation, but now, a year and a half after the case was filed, Mike Tyson is finding out … the alleged assault took place on a different date.”

Why Mike Tyson’s Lawyer Says He’s Opposing It

Tyson’s attorney, Rubin, initially said the boxer would accept the amended complaint if Pinto provided an affidavit “explaining the good faith basis for the alleged amendment,” according to a letter Rubin wrote in court.

The objections, the attorney wrote, stemmed from subsequent depositions taken with two witnesses to Pinto’s testimony “she reported the alleged rape within weeks of the alleged rape.”

“Both of these witnesses testified unequivocally that these reports were made to them shortly after March 1991,” Rubin wrote in a July 25 letter. multiple admissions by the applicant – including after her own deposition in which she testified unequivocally that the alleged rape took place on March 1, 1991 – that she continued to believe the date was 1991.

“As a result of this newly acquired testimony and evidence, we must respectfully reverse our position on plaintiff’s request to amend the complaint and affirm our objection to any such amendment.”

What Christi Pinto says

Other than the date of the alleged assault, Pinto’s claims have not changed since he filed an affidavit in December 2022.

She said she met Tyson at a dance club called September’s in Albany, New York.

“My friend and I stayed with him and his limo driver,” she stated in the affidavit. “Tyson told us about a party and asked us to join him. My girlfriend was going to drop off her car and Tyson said he would. take her in the limo.

“I got into Tyson’s limo to pick up my girlfriend from her house. Tyson immediately started touching me and tried to kiss me. I told him no several times and asked him to stop, but he continued to attack me. Then he took off my pants and violently raped me.”

In her affidavit, Pinto said she was raped in the early 1990s.

In a subsequent affidavit filed on October 2, she stated: “When I first came forward and reported Mike Tyson’s rape to my lawyers, I informed them that I was not sure of the year of production, but I knew it was in the early 1990s.”

Citing “severe psychological trauma” from the rape, Pinto said it is difficult to recall the exact details and surrounding facts of the rape. But she said she knew it happened on her birthday, March 1, and tried to identify the year before the filing. a federal complaint.

While testifying in April, Pinto testified that she was “sure” the rape occurred on March 1, 1991, according to the affidavit. But information provided by her sister during a subsequent deposition cast doubt on the date, according to an affidavit. filed in the New York Supreme Court in December 2022 before the matter reaches federal court.

“I am now certain that the rape took place on March 1, 1990,” Pinto said.

Why is Christi Pinto suing now?

A few weeks after the alleged rape, according to the complaint, Pinto said the owner of the nightclub where she met Tyson and a singer she spent time with that night asked if Tyson had been “inappropriate” with her.

“… but out of embarrassment and fear, the plaintiff told them no,” the complaint states. “…Given Tyson’s infamous aggression and violence, along with his wealth and fame, Plaintiff did not report the assault to authorities for fear of bringing her unwanted attention and further harm.”

In the following years, the complaint notes, Tyson faced numerous allegations of rape and sexual assault from various women.

In November 1990, a New York jury found that Tyson grabbed a woman’s breasts and buttocks at a dance club after she rejected his advances, according to the Washington Post and several other news outlets. The jury awarded him $100 in compensatory damages and denied him punitive damages.

A second woman said Tyson grabbed her bottom while dancing the same night, according to the New York Times.

In 1995, Tyson settled a sexual assault lawsuit brought by Phyllis Polaner, who in 1988 worked as a publicist for Robin Givens, Tyson’s first wife, according to the New York Times.

Tyson, who was paroled in 1994 after serving three years for the Washington rape, faced rape allegations in 2001 from a California woman and a Nevada woman.

Prosecutors have not filed charges in the California case. The district attorney in Clark County, Nevada, said it was unclear whether the sexual contact was consensual or forced.

In a lawsuit filed last year, the complaint in the current New York civil case said the Adult Survivors Act “has given the plaintiff new hope and an opportunity to obtain compensation for his injuries and to demonstrate that even a man as strong like Tyson can be held back. liable according to law”.

Follow Josh Peter on social media @joshlpeter11

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline offers free, confidential, 24/7 support to survivors and loved ones in English and Spanish at: 800.656.HOPE (4673) and Hotline.RAINN.org and en Español RAINN.org/es.