Tuesday, the Willamette Week, a weekly alternative newspaper in Portland, published details of a 2011 sexual assault allegation against Mark Cuban. A woman claimed when she took a photo with Cuban in a Portland nightclub, he reached his hand inside the back of her pants and penetrated her vagina with his finger.
Cuban has repeatedly denied this account. Tuesday, he wrote to the Associated Press that the incident "didn't happen." Wednesday, he doubled down on his denial, telling the Huffington Post, "I'll just repeat very strongly that it didn't happen."
Cuban was not charged, as prosecutors said, "There is no evidence to corroborate the complainant's statement and there is evidence contradicting the claim." The woman, however, stands by her story.
Now, a witness has come forward. A security worker named Christopher White, who was present at the club on the night of the incident, spoke with The Oregonian. He claimed he saw the Mavericks owner in the club with his entourage, and he saw Cuban put his arm around a woman for a photo.
"She jumped away like she was not happy with him," White, 33, said Wednesday. "That's when the energy in the room kind of exploded."
White said Cuban was inebriated that night and was eventually asked to leave. He said Cuban looked very intoxicated from the time he arrived, and his entourage included Cavs forward Kevin Love, who has roots in the area.
"I didn't have a camera on his hand," said White, who worked at the club from 2010-14. "But it sure looked like it was too low to be just on her back."
White said Cuban was pointing his finger at women and beckoning them to come take a photo with him.
"He was, like, really kind of gropey toward them," White said. "It just wasn't how you'd normally pose in a picture with someone."
Cuban reportedly told police he was drinking that night but was not "sloshed." Read The Oregonian's full report here.
