Mark Cuban’s potential 2020 presidential run is already dead on arrival.
Cuban was at the center of a long Sports Illustrated exposé that detailed systemic sexual harassment within his Dallas Mavericks.
Now an allegation against Cuban himself could bury him in the eyes of the public.
Cuban was accused of sexually assaulting a woman in a bar back in 2011. He was never charged with a crime, but the incident was serious enough for Cuban to hire a defense attorney.
From Barstool Sports:
Mark Cuban had a sexual assault complaint filed against him in 2011, according to a report in Willamette Week. The Dallas Mavericks owner was in a Portland bar near closing time in April of 2011 when he allegedly touched a woman inappropriately.
Cuban was never charged for the incident, but he hired a defense attorney in Oregon and a number of witnesses were interviewed. The report states Willamette Week has the 50-page police document that includes interviews between Cuban and the Portland Police Bureau. The woman’s friend backs up her account of the story as well.
The woman told police she encountered Cuban in late April at the Barrel Room, at 105 NW 3rd Ave., and asked him to pose with her for a photograph. While they smiled for the camera, she claimed, he thrust his hand down the back of her jeans and penetrated her vagina with his finger.
The woman stands by her story to this day, telling Willamette Week, “I filed the report because what he did was wrong. I stand behind that report 1,000 percent.”
Cuban’s attorney denies the incident ever took place.
The woman’s friend told police the following about Cuban on the night in question:
“It was apparent he was very drunk. His eyes were half closed, he was unstable on his feet, and he was slurring his words.”
The woman turned over several photos from the night to police, and one of the detectives noted the following about two of the pictures:
“In both images, Cuban’s right shoulder is lowered and he appears to be stretching to reach his arm down,” McGuire’s report says. “In one of the pictures, his arm can be seen behind [the alleged victim] and it appears Cuban is reaching down toward her buttocks.”
McGuire also noted the alleged victim’s expression: “Her teeth are clenched, eyes wider than the other pictures and brow raised showing a look of surprise and strain.”
In light of the #MeToo movement, Cuban will have a lot to answer for—on top of the claims that he enabled sexual predators to run rampant at the upper levels of his organization for years.
Cuban has a lot of explaining to do, and it’s doubtful he’ll get the chance to do it on the campaign trail.