Mike Tyson’s lawyer is expected to file objections in a civil rape lawsuit

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 abuse.

as Mike Tyson prepares for the fight with Jake Paulhis legal camp is preparing to fight a civil lawsuit in federal court that accuses the former heavyweight champion of raping a woman more than 30 years ago.

Although the original lawsuit was filed in January 2023, the most recent development occurred in June, when a woman who says Tyson brutally raped and sexually assaulted her in the early 1990s in the backseat of a limousine told the court she accidentally gave the wrong date of the alleged assault, according to court records reviewed by USA TODAY Sports.

Tyson denies 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, Joanne Mignano, interrupted, saying, “We’re not going to talk about that. 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 . According to court records, the woman is demanding $5 million.

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

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

The woman suing Tyson filed the lawsuit under the Adult Crime Survivors Act, which was passed in New York in May 2022 and allows alleged victims of sex crimes whose statute of limitations has expired one year to file a lawsuit.

The court denied a request by the woman, Christy Pinto, to remain anonymous. USA TODAY does not typically identify victims of alleged sex crimes.

No court date has been set.

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

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

How can this problem affect the case?

The discrepancy in dates raises questions of credibility, according to New York attorney Alan Sacha, who said he has represented plaintiffs and defendants in cases involving alleged sex crimes but was not involved in the case.

“The defendant will say, ‘Look, she’s not matching 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 whether it was a particular day in 1991 or 1992 is irrelevant to the real question of whether or not I was assaulted.’ »

Sash also said he did not believe the discrepancy in the dates would be relevant to the plaintiff filing an amended complaint.

Effie Blassberger, an attorney with the New York firm Clayman Rosenberg Kirshner & Linder, who is not involved in the case, said the problem with the incorrect date demonstrates the problems of the Adult Survivors Act for plaintiffs and defendants.

“Many of the plaintiffs we represent have extreme guilt because they were too afraid to report the assault in the first place,” said Blassberger, who represents actress Julia Ormond in a civil suit alleging Harvey Weinstein sexually assaulted her in 1995. “Now, years later, the ASA and similar recovery statutes are giving these victims the opportunity to hold their abusers and those who facilitated them accountable. In this case, after three decades, it is clear why the date in the complaint was incorrect, and this fact should not be. to undermine the plaintiff’s trust.”

But Blassberger also addresses the “defendant’s point of view,” saying, “Not only has the tremendous amount of time since 1990 or 1991 affected the memory of witnesses and the preservation of evidence, but now, a year and a half after the case opened, Mike Tyson having learned… the alleged attack took place on a different date.”

Why Mike Tyson’s lawyer says he’s in denial

Tyson’s attorney, Rubin, initially said the boxer would accept the amended complaint if Pinto provided an affidavit “explaining the bona fide basis for the proposed amendment,” according to a letter written by Rubin filed in court.

The lawyer wrote that the objections stemmed from further testimony given by two witnesses, in which Pinto said “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 the July 25 letter. the plaintiff’s repeated admissions – including after her own deposition, where she testified unequivocally that the alleged rape took place on March 1, 1991 – that she continued to believe that the date was 1991.

“As a result of this newly received testimony and evidence, we must respectfully modify our position on Plaintiff’s request to amend the Complaint and state our objection to any such amendment.”

What Christy Pinto says

Other than the date of the alleged assault, Pinto’s allegations have not changed since she filed her affidavit in December 2022.

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

“My friend and I were hanging out with him and his limousine driver,” she said in the affidavit. – Tyson told us about the party and asked us to join him. My friend was going to leave her car and Tyson said he would pick her up in a limo.

“I got into Tyson’s limo to pick up my friend 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 pulled off my pants and brutally 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 told them I wasn’t sure about the year it happened, but I knew it was in early 1990s”.

Citing “severe psychological trauma” from the rape, Pinto said it was 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 pinpoint the year before the federal complaint was filed.

During her release 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 later deposition cast doubt on that date, according to the affidavit. filed in the New York Supreme Court in December 2022 before the case was transferred to federal court.

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

Why is Christy 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 the singer she was hanging out with that night asked if Tyson had been “inappropriate” with her.

“… but out of embarrassment and fear, the plaintiff refused them,” the complaint states. “… Given Tyson’s notorious aggression and violence, as well as his wealth and fame, the plaintiff did not report the assault to the authorities, fearing it would bring her unwanted attention and further harm.”

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

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

A second woman said Tyson grabbed her buttocks while dancing that night, the New York Times reported.

In 1995, Tyson settled a sexual assault lawsuit filed 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 rape in Washington, D.C., faced rape allegations in 2001 from a woman in California and a woman in Nevada.

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

In a lawsuit filed last year, the plaintiff in the ongoing civil case in New York said the Adult Survivors Act “has given the plaintiff new hope and an opportunity to recover for his injuries and demonstrate that even a powerful person like Tyson can be restrained. bear responsibility according to the 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-hour support for victims and their loved ones in English and Spanish at 800.656.HOPE (4673) and Hotline.RAINN.org and en Español RAINN.org/es.