Former NBA center Dwight Howard has denied sexual assault and battery allegations stemming from a July 2021 incident at his Georgia residence with a man named Stephen Harper, according to a civil lawsuit obtained by ESPN.
An attorney for Howard, who currently plays in the Taiwanese pro basketball league, said his client is looking forward to “presenting the truth” in court.
“What was a private consensual encounter was made public for profit and Mr. Howard looks forward to bringing the truth to light in a court of law,” one of Howard’s attorneys, Justin Bailey, told ESPN. “The allegations against Mr. Howard are contested. Mr. Howard intends to present the truth.
“The truth is Mr. Howard blocked Mr. Harper on social media and then was confronted with two options — pay to protect his reputation or have a fabricated story made public.
“Despite being an easy target due to the subject matter and his status as a celebrity, Mr. Howard chose to trust in the justice system and will rely on all future court filings to speak for themselves.”
Per the court documents, Howard said he engaged in “consensual sexual activity” with Harper, but denied causing any injury to Harper while they were at Howard’s home in July 2021.
The encounter took place after Harper’s lawyers said in their initial filing that their client initiated communication with Howard over direct messages on Instagram in May 2021.
Howard also denied allegations of “intentional infliction of emotional distress” and “false imprisonment” according to the court documents.
Howard has asked the court to dismiss the civil lawsuit filed against him in July 2023 in Georgia, according to ESPN.
The 18-year NBA veteran last played in the league in 2022 and continued his professional basketball career later that year with Taiwan’s Taoyuan Leopards.
Howard won an NBA title while on LeBron James’ Lakers in the 2019-20 COVID bubble season.
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