Dallas Mavericks

Mavs owner Mark Cuban denies 2011 sex assault allegation

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 12:41 p.m. ET

DALLAS (AP) Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is denying a 2011 allegation of sexual assault after a weekly alternative newspaper in Oregon published details of a case that prosecutors didn't pursue, saying they didn't believe there was evidence to support the claim.

The report in the Willamette Week in Portland, Oregon, came two weeks after a Sports Illustrated account that portrayed a hostile work environment for women in the front office of the Mavericks.

The woman claimed Cuban reached inside her pants and penetrated her vagina with his finger while they were taking a picture in a Portland nightclub. In an email to The Associated Press on Tuesday, Cuban wrote, ''It didn't happen.''

In a report explaining why they weren't pursuing the case, prosecutors wrote that ''there is no evidence to corroborate the complainant's statement and there is evidence contradicting the claim.'' The report also said the woman didn't want to proceed with the allegation.

The SI report included claims of inappropriate sexual conduct by former CEO Terdema Ussery and raised questions about what Cuban knew and when.