Reports broke Friday evening that the New York Police Department was investigating an allegation of rape against former Knicks star Kristaps Porzingis.
On Friday evening, the New York Post reported that the Special Victims Division was investigating a rape allegation made against Kristaps Porzingis. Although the victim apparently didn’t file a police report until this week, the allegation is that the attack occurred on Feb. 7, 2018 — just hours after Porzingis suffered an ACL injury that has kept him off the court ever since.
According to the Post’s reporting, the woman lived in the same building and she alleges that the attack took place in Porzingis’ apartment after he invited her over in the early hours of the morning. With the investigation just beginning there will be plenty of additional details to work out but, according to the Post, police are taking the accusations seriously.
The accuser is “believable,” the source said, despite her not reporting the alleged attack until over a year later, and her admission to cops that she discussed getting $68,000 in hush money from the multi-millionaire baller.
Porzingis, of course, is no longer a member of the New York Knicks, having been traded to the Dallas Mavericks just before the 2019 February trade deadline. Mavericks owner Mark Cuban responded to the Post by email, saying,“ We have been instructed by federal authorities not to comment.”
The federal authorities Cuban is referring to were brought in as part of a counter-claim of extortion by Porzingis or his representatives. Porzingis’ lawyer revealed in a statement that they had notified federal law enforcement officials on Dec. 20, 2018, of what they saw as an extortion demand. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski later reported that the Knicks had been aware of the accusations and relayed the information to the Mavericks during the February trade call to complete the Porzingis trade.
Porzingis has continued to rehab from his knee injury and likely wouldn’t return to the court until next season anyway. It remains to be seen how the investigation will unfold over the course of the summer and how it could affect both Porzingis and the Mavericks.