Boxer Adrien Broner ordered to pay over $800,000 for sexual assault in Cleveland nightclub
Former boxing champ Adrien Broner has been ordered to pay nearly $830,000 to a woman who accused him of sexually assaulting her in a Cleveland nightclub.
According to Cleveland.com, a common pleas court judge in Cuyahoga County awarded the victim, who has not been named, $500,000 in punitive damages, $250,000 in compensatory damages, and ordered Broner to pay her legal fees.
Broner, 30, did not appear in court to defend himself or contest the charges, which led to the default judgement.
The incident in question happened back in June 2018. The victim and her friend went to a nightclub in Cleveland’s Warehouse District after Game 4 of the NBA Finals, and both were invited back to the club’s VIP section. Things devolved from there, according to Cleveland.com:
Both women told police that Broner came up to the woman from “out of nowhere," laid on top of her and started forcibly kissing her, the report said. She said Broner said to shut up and kiss him during the attack, the woman told police. Her friend tried to pull Broner off the woman by a fanny pack he was wearing around his waist, the report said. She could not get him to budge, so she turned to other men and told them to get Broner, the report said.
The other men she turned to were unwilling to help because they knew Broner was a boxer. According to the victim, he only got up because someone came up and attempted to take a picture.
The victim and her friend went to the police immediately after the incident. Broner was arrested and charged with gross sexual imposition, and misdemeanor sexual imposition and abduction, both of which are felonies. In April he pleaded to the lesser misdemeanor charges of assault and unlawful restraint, and was sentenced to probation. The victim said in court that she developed post-traumatic stress disorder from the incident, and has undergone months of therapy.
Broner, a former welterweight champion and Cincinnati native, has a 33-4-1 lifetime record but hasn’t fought in nearly a year. His last match was a unanimous loss to Manny Pacquiao in January 2019.
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