Mike Tyson rape case dropped without financial compensation, says boxer's attorney
(This story has been updated to include new information).
A woman who said Mike Tyson brutally raped and sexually assaulted her in the early 1990s has dropped her lawsuit, according to a letter filed with the U.S. District Court Northern District of New York.
Daniel Rubin, an attorney representing Tyson, wrote that the attorney representing the woman "has informed me that Plaintiff is withdrawing her complaint."
According to the letter, dated March 7, the woman is "voluntarily discontinuing this Action with prejudice," meaning the lawsuit cannot be refiled.
The parties later filed a signed stipulation of voluntarily dismissal, officially ending the lawsuit filed in January 2023.
Tyson, 58, denied the allegations, court records show.
"While not surprising, given the baseless allegations, we are pleased with the result – a complete withdrawal of all claims without any compensation, concession or settlement of any kind from Mr. Tyson," Rubin told Paste BN Sports on Monday. "This suit never should have been filed and this is the correct outcome."
Darren Seilback, the attorney representing the woman, did not respond to requests for comment until Tuesday. He said his client dropped the case after the judge on Feb. 4 denied a motion to amend her complaint after the woman informed the court she got the date of the alleged rape wrong.
As Tyson was preparing to fight Jake Paul on Nov. 15, the woman filed an amended complaint with the court stating she was raped by Tyson on March 1, 1990, not March 1, 1991 as stated in her original complaint.
"We are extremely disappointed that the court did not allow us to amend the pleadings in the case,'' read a statement Seilback provided on behalf of his firm, Oddo & Babat. "It's a shame our client's case had to be dismissed on procedural grounds. We stand by our client's account of the events and support her 100%.''
Judge Mitchell J. Katz, in denying the motion to amend the complaint, ruled the plaintiff had failed to show diligence in determing the date of the alleged rape.
"She argues that the evidence of the date of the event was not known to her until recently,'' Katz said during the Feb. 4 hearing. "But this evidence includes the information known to her sister Kym Hertz, with whom she has an ongoing relationship, plaintiff's own medical records and a hospital bracelet in her possession.''
Seilback, the plaintiff's attorney, said the medical records and hospital bracelet were from a medical matter in 1989 unrelated to Tyson.
In his ruling, the judge also said, "Additional evidence supporting the identification of the date of the alleged rape was also in the possession of plaintiff's sister-in-law, Sherry Waldron. None of this evidence or the sources of the same can be fairly characterized as, quote, 'newly discovered,' and none of it was unavailable to the plaintiff for obvious reasons.''
Katz also said he did not think the plaintiff's request to amend her complaint "as evidence of bad faith or as a sham, but the delay is clearly prejudicial to the defendant and would have been obviated if due diligence had been exercised.''
Regarding prejudice, the judge noted the significant time and cost spent on investigating the matter before the plaintiff said the date was wrong and the possibility that evidence had been lost in the 18 months since the case reached the state court.
The plaintiff did not appeal Katz's ruling.
The woman suing Tyson filed the lawsuit under the Adult Survivors Act, which was enacted in New York in May 2022 and allows alleged victims of sexual offenses for which the statute of limitations has expired one year to file suit.
Rubin, Tyson’s attorney, objected to the amended complaint.
"Plaintiff voluntarily withdrew her claims after the court correctly denied her request to amend the complaint,'' Rubin said.
The woman said Tyson raped and sexually assaulted her in the early 1990s in the back of a limousine, according to the lawsuit filed in January 2023. She was seeking $5 million, according to court records.