$10 million sex-harassment suit that's rocking the Madison SquareGarden

[gts]

Knicks boss Isiah Thomas faces accuser at start of sexual harassment trial

By TOM HAYS, Associated Press Writer
September 10, 2007

NEW YORK (AP) -- New York Knicks coach Isiah Thomas and a former team executive who claims he subjected her to unwanted sexual advances appeared in federal court Monday as jury selection began in her $10 million sexual harassment lawsuit.

Thomas and his accuser, Anucha Browne Sanders, sat stoically within a few feet of each other, both flanked by teams of lawyers. Thomas, also the team's president and considered one of the best players in NBA history, stood and smiled as the judge introduced him to the scores of potential jurors sitting in the gallery.

The jury pool was asked to fill out a lengthy questionnaire. One of the questions: "Do you regularly follow professional basketball or consider yourself a fan?"

U.S. District Judge Gerard Lynch also read aloud a list of names of possible witnesses, including Knicks players Stephon Marbury and Malik Rose. The questionnaire asked if "you have an opinion about either of them that would in any way bias you in considering their testimony."

During individual questioning, the judge dismissed one prospective juror, a coffee trader, after the man revealed his anguish over being fired from a job based on a co-worker's claim of inappropriate touching.

"It was humiliating," the man said. "I was shocked. And devastated, too."

A building maintenance man and Knicks fan was kept in the pool despite suggesting that game tickets were overpriced and that Thomas' track record as coach was poor.
"I can speak freely? The team's not doing too well," he said as Thomas listened nearby. Eight jurors were to be picked for a trial expected to begin with opening statements on Tuesday and last three weeks, meaning a verdict could come just before the Knicks open training camp for the 2007-08 season.

Browne Sanders, a former Northwestern basketball star and married mother of three, wants reinstatement to her job as senior vice present of marketing and business operations. She's also seeking hefty damages after spending five years with the storied franchise.

The plaintiff contends she was fired in January 2006 "for telling the truth" while going through internal channels to stop the harassment by Thomas, also the team's president for basketball operations. Madison Square Garden, which owns the team, insisted her dismissal was because she "failed to fulfill professional responsibilities."

Thomas, a former Detroit Pistons guard who in 1996 was voted one of the NBA's top 50 players of all time, has acknowledged that in December 2005 he tried to kiss Browne Sanders on the cheek at a Knicks game and asked "No love today?" when she pulled away, according to a recounting of claims by the judge.

But the Knicks coach has disputed her allegations that he said he loved her and asked her to "go off site" with him.

MSG officials expect the trial to show "this meritless lawsuit is riddled with fabrications and really is all about money," they said in a statement Monday.

In a separate statement, defense attorney Sue Ellen Eisenberg stressed that Browne Sanders never worked directly for Thomas.

"Isiah did not hire her, he did not fire her, he never said he was in love with her and he never ever sexually harassed Ms. Browne Sanders," she said.





http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ap-knicks-thomasharassmentsuit&prov=ap&type=lgns

[SoCalMike]

Is this getting any buzz in NY? I am not really hearing much about this in Cali, other than the stuff I read on the internet.



:pimp:

[gts]

Is this getting any buzz in NY? I am not really hearing much about this in Cali, other than the stuff I read on the internet.



:pimp:


Knicks coach Isiah Thomas was a foulmouthed bully who went on tirades at a moment's notice, a Manhattan Federal Court jury was told yesterday in a day of raw testimony filled with obscenities and sexual slurs.

Fired Knicks exec Anucha Browne Sanders said Thomas repeatedly called her a "*****" and "ho" in private conversations, but then suddenly declared he loved her after they played a game of basketball.

Dressed in a baby-blue suit jacket and dark slacks, and wearing simple pearl earrings, Browne Sanders said Thomas bristled at her efforts to get players to turn out for corporate events scheduled long before he took over the team in December 2003.

"*****, I don't give a f--k about the sponsors ..." Browne Sanders testified Thomas told her. "I don't give a f--k about ticket sales."

She also said Thomas rebuffed her March 2004 request that he sign renewal-request letters sent out to past season ticket holders with a pointed shot at loyal Knick fans.

"*****, I don't give a f--k about these white people," Browne Sanders said Thomas told her.

Browne Sanders, like Thomas an African-American, said she urged Thomas to give it a second thought, considering the Knick fan base.

"I said I think you're going to have a problem because 80% of the season subscriber base is white," Browne Sanders testified in a strong, confident voice.

Thomas, impeccably dressed in a sharp blue suit, occasionally flashed a disbelieving smile during the testimony.

Sometimes he looked directly at Browne Sanders. Other times he leaned over and whispered to one of his three female lawyers.

Browne Sanders was the first witness in the bruising $10 million sex-harassment trial pitting the team's former marketing vice president against Thomas, a two-time NBA champ and Hall of Famer.

The married mother of three contends the Knicks fired her from her "dream job" in January 2006 in retaliation for her daring to hire a lawyer and pursue sexual-harassment allegations against Thomas.

His lawyers portrayed Browne Sanders, a 44-year-old former Northwestern basketball star, as a physically imposing woman savvy enough to navigate the trash-talking world of the NBA.

"We categorically deny the new set of unfounded and outrageous allegations made today in court," Thomas lawyer Sue Ellen Eisenberg said. "We look forward to our opportunity to present the facts."

Browne Sanders, who said she got rave reviews and pay hikes while with the Knicks, testified that when she reported Thomas' tirades to Garden President Steve Mills, he told her to "accommodate him."

Browne Sanders, who often looked at her three sisters seated in the courtroom, said it wasn't the first time she had found herself on the receiving end of one of Thomas' profanity-laced tirades.

After a frustrating 2004 loss, she said Thomas grabbed her by the arm and pulled her into a room off the Garden floor and screamed at her for having scheduled player appearances at a corporate event the day before.

"We're not going to do any more of these f-----g community events," Browne Sanders says Thomas screamed. "I'm here to win f-----g basketball games."

In 2004, she said she appealed to their shared background in the hopes they could resolve their differences.

"I said, Isiah, we just need to work together," Browne Sanders testified. "Where else in professional sports do you have an African-American president of the Garden, an African-American president of the team and an African-American vice president of the team? It is a tremendous message for minorities."

Around the same time, she said, Thomas noticed a scar above her eye that looked similar to one he had. "Oh, I have one like that," Thomas said. "I got mine from a fight."

In a March 2004 diary entry shown to jurors, she wrote: "It told me that he was very attracted to me after pointing out a scar above my eye."

By late 2004, Browne Sanders said, Thomas had warmed to her after a game of horse at a December holiday party. Thomas beat the former Northwestern hoops star in the popular playground game, and the two slapped hands afterward.

"I figured it out when we played horse," she said Thomas told her after a 2004 Knicks victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves. "I'm in love with you. It's like the movie 'Love and Basketball.'"

Browne Sanders, whose husband was not in the courtroom, said she felt uncomfortable and ended the conversation.

"Oh, I let you win that game," she said she told him.

Star Knick guard Stephon Marbury is expected to take the stand today. Browne Sanders said Marbury became agitated after she told him she'd have to ask Thomas if it was okay to give game credentials to Marbury's cousins.

tzambito@nydailynews.com

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/knicks/2007/09/12/2007-09-12_brownesanders_slams_isiah_thomas_in_sexh.html

[final.wrath]

isiah sounds like an *******

[ShawnieMac06]

If I was Isiah and his lawyers, I would reconsider having Stephon on that witness stand, especially with the way he's rambling on-and-on about nonsense lately.

[Los Angeles]

If I was Isiah and his lawyers, I would reconsider having Stephon on that witness stand, especially with the way he's rambling on-and-on about nonsense lately.'

:roll: I totally agree.

[gts]

If I was Isiah and his lawyers, I would reconsider having Stephon on that witness stand, especially with the way he's rambling on-and-on about nonsense lately. haha good point...

[bringthetruth]

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/knicks/2007/09/12/2007-09-12_knicks_marbury_admits_luring_woman_into_.html

Nervous Knicks star Stephon Marbury took the stand today in the explosive $10 million sex-harassment suit that's rocking the Garden and admitted he lured one of the female accuser's subordinates into his car.
Marbury did not say explicitly they had sex as they sat parked outside a Manhattan strip joint, as fired Knick exec Anucha Browne Sanders has claimed.

"We got together right across the street," Marbury testified in Manhattan Federal court.

The point guard made the admission after Browne Sanders, who claims Knicks coach Isiah Thomas fired her in January 2006 for daring to hire a lawyer, broke down on the stand for the first time in the bruising trial.

Browne Sanders grew weepy as she described how the intern, a St. Johns University student named Kathleen Decker, was subjected to a filthy come-on by Marbury's cousin, Hassan Gonsalves. Browne Sanders said Decker told her she later wound up in Marbury's car and the two had sex.

"Anucha, if it was anyone else I would have walked away," Decker said, according to Browne Sanders. "I felt like I had to."

Wiping away tears, Browne Sanders added, "She basically did whatever he asked her to do. She considered it to be consensual because she agreed to get in the car."

Dressed in a cream-colored plaid jacket with a red hankie sticking out of his breast pocket, Marbury fidgeted and avoided looking at Browne Sanders as he sat hunched over the microphone.

Marbury said he did not know that Decker, who was at the strip club celebrating her birthday with friends, was drunk during their encounter in April 2005. He was prevented from getting into the salacious details by the judge.

Marbury admitted calling Browne Sanders a "*****" after she refused to give him more game tickets for his friends and family.

"She told me that this is not Phoenix or New Jersey, we're not doing things like that here," Marbury said, referring to the places where previously played professional basketball.

Afterward, as Marbury raced to a blue Rolls-Royce trailed by reporters, he called the trial a "tough situation" and refused to speculate on the possible outcome. "It's not for me to judge," he said.

Marbury tried to change the subject by making fun of the reporters' ties and shoes, noting that he was wearing expensive tan lace-ups, then drowning out the pesky questions by breaking into song.

"I got some new Starburys that are coming out," Marbury said before disappearing, a pitch for his reasonably-priced basketball shoes.

Earlier, Browne Sanders, a 44-year-old former Northwestern University basketball star who is the Knicks' former marketing vice-president, described how Gonsalves allegedly harassed Decker in Nov. 2005.

"You look good in those pants," Gonsalves allegedly said, according to Sanders. "I bet that p---y looks good too."

Browne Sanders said that Decker told her about the sleazy incident and later admitted, "I didn't tell you everything." Then she related the story of her encounter with Marbury.

Decker said Marbury and Gonsalves were also at the strip club where she was celebrating her birthday and that — over the objections of her friends — she accepted a ride back to St. Johns from Gonsalves.

Decker, according to Browne Sanders, said that when she climbed out of Gonsalves' vehicle Marbury pulled up in his and said, "Are you getting in, or not?"

Browne Sanders said she told Garden President Steve Mills about the encounter between Marbury and Decker and complained that she heard from others that Marbury had called her a "black *****."

"I want you to make it stop," Browne Sanders said she told Mills.

Mills, Browne Sanders testified, warned her that if she didn't stay quiet Thomas would start rumors she was having an affair with MSG executive Jeff Nix.

"Steve, is that a threat?" Browne Sanders, a married mother of three, claims she told Mills. "Do I need to find a lawyer?"

In earlier testimony, Browne Sanders said Thomas, a two time NBA champ and Hall of Famer, was a foul-mouthed bully who hampered her efforts to get players to turn out for corporate events. She said that when she complained about Thomas's tirades to Mills, he told her to "accommodate him."

Browne Sanders also testified that Thomas made her feel uncomfortable by telling her "I'm in love with you" after beating her in a game of horse. Garden lawyer Ronald Green told jurors Browne Sanders lied about sex harrassment.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
I knew steph and his cousin was off da hizzy.
Anucka gonna get paid , this is very common(players getting with younger women) for organizations staff members or players that are sleazy.

Anucka doesn't seem to operate like that, mills seems like he didn't give a rip either.

Boy if LB could only take the stand! LOL

[gts]

Yeah i started a thread on this too..maybe we can have the Mods merge them it will be fun to follow along...

[jjswifty]

She was fired for "failed to fulfill professional responsibilities." Yet she was given pay raises throughout her time at that job...I hope Isiah is guilty...maybe this can get him fired.

Also, yesterday one of the jurors fell asleep during trial. :roll:

[Allstar24]

Just saw this on NBC.

Isiah Thomas looked very odd...its almost as if he was excited to be getting so much attention from all these news channels.

[jbot]

i
Stephon took the stand in the Isiah Trial, and as expected, he did not disappoint. From the Daily News:

Nervous Knicks star Stephon Marbury took the stand today in the explosive $10 million sex-harassment suit that’s rocking the Garden and admitted he lured one of the female accuser’s subordinates into his car.

Marbury did not say explicitly they had sex as they sat parked outside a Manhattan strip joint, as fired Knick exec Anucha Browne Sanders has claimed.

“We got together right across the street,” Marbury testified in Manhattan Federal court.

Like his coach, Isiah Thomas, Marbury appears to have a certain affinity for the word “*****”. The Knick point guard admitted to using the word when addressing Anucha Browne Sanders after she wouldn’t give him all of the game tickets he had requested for his friends and family.

marbury is the last person i would want testifying on my behalf.

[skillswithaz]

"Oh, I have one like that," Thomas said. "I got mine from a fight."

lmao, somehow I don't think IT is this stupid. I suspect that she's either lying or exaggerating a lot.

[gts]

It never seems to be about basketball anymore with the Knicks. Before training camp began last season, the Knicks and Larry Brown were calling each other names in NBA Commissioner David Stern’s office. This time around, training camp is being overshadowed by Isiah Thomas' ugly sexual harassment lawsuit.

I have no idea what Isiah said or didn't say to Anucha Browne Sanders behind the scenes. But I can tell you this: from the moment Isiah came in I knew the two executives would butt heads because Isiah wanted to do things his way while Anucha had been given too much power by the same people who are now trying to paint her as incompetent.

It’s funny that Thomas had some of the same problems with Anucha that Jeff Van Gundy once voiced to his superiors. Van Gundy, like Isiah, knew that his job was to win and he felt that Anucha was interfering by constantly asking players to make personal appearances, which was part of her job description.

Here’s the difference however: Garden chairman James Dolan and Garden president Steve Mills always sided with Anucha. Even though the team had won under Van Gundy -- making it to the 1999 NBA Finals -- Dolan and Mills were tired of his act. So instead they supported Anucha, a decision that continues to haunt them to this day.

Under Don Chaney and Scott Layden, Anucha began to flex her muscle and I became convinced that she would soon become team president. She suddenly began traveling to road games on the team charter, something she would never had dared to do with Van Gundy on board. But now people in the organization were calling Anucha “Steve’s girl” and she was on the fast track at MSG.

Layden should have drawn a line in the sand but instead he decided not to stand up to Anucha, Mills and Dolan. When Dolan told Layden to trade Camby and Sprewell he did it even though the Knicks got killed on both deals.

Thomas, though, came in and made sure that everyone knew that this was his show, which is the right way to do it. Just ask Pat Riley and Van Gundy. Isiah and Anucha were immediately at odds which must have put Mills in a tough spot. After all, Mills always gave Anucha glowing job evaluations and Mills is also responsible for selling Dolan on hiring Thomas.

Who knows if Anucha has a strong case but some of her testimony has damaged Isiah’s reputation, particularly when he allegedly told her, "*****, I don't give a f--- about these white people," referring to season ticket holders. Imagine if someone like Ernie Grunfeld had same something similar about black season ticket holders? Would he even have his job by Friday?

The more you see and hear from this mess, the more you can’t help but wonder why Dolan allowed this to go to trial in the first place.

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/knicks/2007/09/isiahanucha_battle_rooted_in_h.html

[jjswifty]

The knicks have become a joke and circus ever since Isiah stepped in. Now with Randolph on the team...stay tuned.

[Akrazotile]

Hmmm Isiah gets work on NBAtv


AS LONG AS NO WHITE GUYS ARE RACIST DOEEEEE

[MavsSuperFan]

Hmmm Isiah gets work on NBAtv


AS LONG AS NO WHITE GUYS ARE RACIST DOEEEEE
:applause: agreed, you posting has gotten a lot better lately, im proud of your growth.

[Akrazotile]

She also said Thomas rebuffed her March 2004 request that he sign renewal-request letters sent out to past season ticket holders with a pointed shot at loyal Knick fans.

"*****, I don't give a f--k about these white people," Browne Sanders said Thomas told her.

[UK2K]

Another chick who probably openly flirted and is now claiming sexual harassment.

I used to be on their side, cause rape is not funny, but after spending 6 years in the Marine Corps, I've learned that there's very few actual cases of sexual harassment. Most of the time, its a chick who's trying to get money, or got ****ed and now wants to be paid.

In the USMC, it was chicks who got ran through then get known as a barracks slut so they claim rape.

Seen it over and over. Hopefully this isnt true, and of course, if it is, he should be held accountable, but Im not holding my breath.

[smoovegittar]

She ugly doe...