Massage Therapist Refiles Sexual Assault Lawsuit Against Weinstein and Knicks Owner Dolan in NY

Kellye Croft accuses Harvey Weinstein and James Dolan of rape and sexual assault in a new New York state complaint. A federal case on the same claims was dismissed in 2024.

Tennessee Woman Targets Weinstein and MSG Owner Dolan in New York State Court

A Tennessee massage therapist filed a 30-page sexual assault complaint in New York County Supreme Court on Friday, accusing disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein and New York Knicks owner James Dolan of assaulting her more than a decade ago, Courthouse News Service reports.

Kellye Croft says she was a 27-year-old licensed massage therapist in the fall of 2013 when she first encountered Dolan, the billionaire owner of Madison Square Garden, while his rock band was on tour with the Eagles. According to the complaint, Dolan "physically forced himself onto her during a professional massage session in Miami" and "continued this unwanted sexual intercourse with Ms. Croft in California" during a subsequent leg of the tour.

"Croft did not want to have sexual and intimate contact with a man twice her age whom she did not find remotely attractive," the complaint states. "But given Dolan's power, she was terrified of upsetting him by rejecting his sexual demands."

Croft alleges Dolan then "set her up for his good friend Harvey Weinstein's sexual gratification" in California, which led to a "harrowing assault" by Weinstein in her hotel room in 2014. She says Weinstein invited her to his suite under the pretense of discussing job opportunities, telling her "we always need massage therapists on set for actors and actresses." When she declined and returned to her own room, Weinstein — wearing a loosely tied bathrobe — followed her and assaulted her there, the complaint alleges.

Croft says she informed Dolan of what had happened years before Weinstein's widespread misconduct became public. According to the complaint, Dolan responded that "we all know" Weinstein was a "troubled person" who "has problems," adding that "his friends" were trying to get him "help." Croft argues that statement directly contradicts Dolan's later public claims that he was completely unaware of Weinstein's behavior — and that Dolan "not only knew about it" but "facilitated and enabled" it by arranging her meeting with Weinstein.

The plaintiff says she turned to drugs and alcohol to cope with the alleged assaults and subsequently required extensive rehabilitation for depression and substance abuse. She is seeking damages for those harms.

Croft first brought these accusations in a federal sex trafficking lawsuit in 2024. U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson, a George W. Bush appointee sitting in the Central District of California, dismissed that case, ruling that she had failed to plausibly allege she was given anything of value constituting a commercial sex act. Anderson dismissed the sex trafficking claims with prejudice but permitted Croft to refile the individual sexual assault and battery claims against both men.

In a statement provided to Courthouse News, Weinstein spokesman Juda Engelmayer denied the allegations. "Ms. Croft previously brought these claims in federal court in California, and Harvey unequivocally denied them then and unequivocally denies them now," Engelmayer said. "Harvey did not sexually assault or attempt to rape Ms. Croft. Refiling the allegations in a different court does not make them true. He will defend himself against these claims through the legal process."

A spokesperson for Dolan similarly rejected the lawsuit, stating it "has no merit — it was dismissed in the other courts and will be dismissed again." Dolan had also denied the claims when they were first filed two years ago.

Weinstein is scheduled to appear in Manhattan criminal court next week to be sentenced on one criminal sex act charge involving former production assistant Miriam "Mimi" Haley, stemming from a retrial held last year.

Source: Courthouse News Service