Former boxing champion Oscar De La Hoya sued by woman alleging sexual battery
Oscar De La Hoya is being sued by a former employee of Casa Mexico Enterprises, a tequila company he is a partner in, who says the former boxing world champion sexually assaulted her twice in 2020, once during a company event and another time at his residence.
The cross-complaint lawsuit was filed Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court and obtained by Paste BN Sports. It includes 11 complaints, alleging sexual battery, sexual harassment, gender discrimination, wrongful termination and fraud.
Gina Ruccione says in the lawsuit that in March 2020 Casa Mexico organized a company event in Mexico to visit the tequila distillery and create advertising and marketing materials. The event was attended by sports and entertainment partners, including actor Mario Lopez.
She says she returned to her hotel room on the first night and was awakened by De La Hoya pounding on the door. After opening the door, De La Hoya allegedly dropped his pants to his ankles, pushed his way into the room and got into Ruccione's bed.
Ruccione says she shoved De La Hoya from the bed, walked him to his room, opened his door and returned to her room.
The next morning Ruccione was in charge of managing the Casa Mexico trip activities. She went to De La Hoya's room to wake him as he did not show up with the rest of the group.
In response to her knocking on the door, De La Hoya pushed her onto his bed and allegedly sexually assaulted her. Ruccione says the company took no action after she told then-CEO Eric Gerardo Leyva-Buccio about the assault, according to the lawsuit.
Paste BN Sports does not name potential victims of sexual misconduct, but Ruccione has made her identity public.
Shortly after the group returned to Los Angeles, Ruccione and several others went to dinner and then to De La Hoya’s house. At one point, De La Hoya was alone with Ruccione and allegedly retrieved a sexual object and forcibly inserted it into her. She also says that during her employment at Casa Mexico, her supervisors repeatedly "subjected her to unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors or other verbal, visual, or physical conduct of a sexual nature."
Michael Gooch, Casa Mexico CEO, Robert Crossan, Casa Mexico COO, and DV Capital Partners, a Florida company owned by Gooch, are named as the other defendants, and Ruccione is requesting a jury trial, seeking punitive and exemplary damages.
Ruccione was hired to do marketing for the company in 2019, with the title of Casa Mexico's vice president of marketing even though she was not directly employed by the company. She was fired in November, months after the company discussed filing for an initial public offering (IPO), which she was against.
The following month, Casa Mexico filed a contract-business governance lawsuit against Leyva-Buccio and Ruccione.
"Oscar De La Hoya and all other parties involved vehemently deny these false accusations, created with such malicious intentions, by a former employee, who was terminated for just cause," a publicist for De La Hoya said in a statement. “Unfortunately, with twenty-four-hour news cycles we become, more often than not, the recipient of vindictive, false and unjust accusations that are interpreted and spread as truth - without any evidence to support erroneous claims," states Oscar, "I am confident my legal team will resolve this matter and prove my innocence."
De La Hoya, 49, found stardom after winning a boxing gold medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. After turning pro, he won 11 world titles in six weight classes, finishing with a career record of 39-6 with 30 knockouts. He founded Golden Boy Promotions in 2002. He was accused of sexual assault in 2017 by an unidentified woman, and in 1998 when a then 15-year-old girl said De La Hoya raped and imprisoned her in a Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, hotel room. That case was settled out of court.
“Oscar De La Hoya sexually assaulted Ms. Ruccione. Ms. Ruccione has been severely impacted and has filed a lawsuit to hold him accountable and those perpetuating toxic masculinity and a hostile work environment where her abuse was not just tolerated, but encouraged and condoned by Casa Mexico’s executives, Michael Gooch and Robert Crossan. As a survivor of this abuse, she wants others to know this behavior is unacceptable – and it doesn’t matter who you are. We will seek justice on her behalf,” said Ruccione’s attorney, Sylvia Torres-Guillén of Andrade Gonzalez.