Isiah Thomas is a foul-mouthed, slobbering harasser who propositioned the Knicks' former top marketing exec for sex — and even plotted to lure opposing teams to boozy strip joints to throw off their games, an explosive new lawsuit charges.
"I know you think I'm inappropriate, but I'm in love with you," Knick President Thomas allegedly told then-Vice President Anucha Browne Sanders, according to her suit.
"Contrary to Thomas' carefully cultivated public persona, he is capable of abhorrent behavior in private," alleges the lawsuit, which formally charges sex discrimination and then retaliation after Sanders complained and was fired.
"Sexual advances" quickly followed, as Thomas, a married father of two began "repeatedly professing his love for [Sanders], making comments about her physical appearance and suggesting that they go 'offsite' together, a thinly veiled solicitation for sex," the suit says.
Thomas' lawyers quickly denied the allegations as "a blatant and cynical attempt . . . to get a large sum of money from Madison Square Garden by exploiting the celebrity status of our client.
"While still employed, she demanded from the Garden as a condition of her departure a payment of $6 million, which is more than 20 years of her salary."
A well-placed source said that earlier this month, "[Sanders'] lawyer came to the Garden and said, 'I know how this problem can go away. Six million dollars' — that's what they wanted.
"The Garden said absolutely not, and they fired her."
In October 2004, "a female employee of the Knicks told Sanders that Thomas had instructed her to flirt with certain men connected to the game and make them happy," her suit alleges.
Then early last year, "Thomas told [her] he was pushing to get more Sunday noon games on the schedule," the lawsuit says.
"Thomas said he was working with the concierges of the hotels frequented by the visiting teams to have the concierges direct players to certain nightclubs — including strip clubs — that Thomas had established relationships with.
"Thomas said that his plan was to induce visiting players to go to these clubs on Saturday night and get them intoxicated so that they would not be prepared to play on Sunday," she says in the suit.
The suit says that only a week after Sanders left work voluntarily before her firing, Thomas "hugged her and tried to kiss her."
Amid her griping, the 44-year-old Thomas vacillated between blasting her as a "f- - -ing bitch" and continuing to issue suggestive come-ons to her, the suit charges.
Sanders says Thomas became so incensed over her blatant rejections that he turned many of the Knicks' players against her as she tried to market the franchise.
She claims that team superstar Stephon Marbury would routinely blast her as "that black bitch.
"F- - - that black bitch, she thinks she runs the Knicks, but she don't run sh- -!" she quotes Marbury as spouting off.
1 comment:
Hmm, funny, she did the same thing to me when I was the Knicks head man....And, she didnt look any better then.
So, glad I'm outta there....Now, I only have to deal with underachieving talent in the nations capital. And, I don't mean the Reskins, Nationals or Capitals.....
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