Mike Tyson is facing a lawsuit from a woman who says she was raped by the boxer back in the 1990s. The suit has been filed under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which suspends the statute of limitations for one year for victims of sexual assault to take legal action. According to various news outlets, an affidavit filed by an unidentified party accuses Tyson of the attack and seeks $5 million in damages.
The damages are being sought as a result of the plaintiff’s subsequent inability “to maintain and/or develop healthy relationships with men or anyone in general” as well as “extreme emotional suffering including but not limited to nightmares, panic attacks and flashbacks.”
The affidavit describes the attack like this:
“I met Mike Tyson in the early 1990s at a dance club called Septembers…My friend and I were hanging out with him and his limousine driver. Tyson told us about a party and asked us to join him. My friend was going to drop off her car and Tyson said he would pick her up in the limousine.
“He then pulled my pants off and violently raped me…As a result of Tyson’s rape, I suffered and continue to suffer from physical, psychological, and emotional injury.”
In a separate filing reported by NBC New York, the woman’s attorney Darren Seilback says that his client’s allegations have been investigated thoroughly and found to be “highly credible.” An exact date of the attack isn’t provided beyond the “early 1990s” window, which is also around the same time as when Tyson was convicted of raping a beauty pageant contestant named Desiree Washington, which led to a three-year prison stint.
For Tyson’s part, he doesn’t appear to have responded to the lawsuit publicly as of yet, and it’s not known whether he’ll fight it in court or attempt to make a settlement.