NBA superstar and longtime Houston Rocket James Harden is being sued over an alleged sexual assault that took place in his Houston mansion on New Year’s Day.
The lawsuit, which was filed Monday, lists Harden’s nephew—the alleged perpetrator—Harden, and the security team working at the basketball star’s mansion.
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On the night of Dec. 31, 2024, court records said the woman filing the suit and two of her friends went to a gentleman’s club called Polekatz, where they spotted Harden in the club’s VIP section. Soon after, the group learned there would be an afterparty at Harden’s home.
At the mansion, court documents state how the women were inspected by Harden’s security team and directed to a studio in the home, where Harden and other guests were hanging out. They also noticed that other women had passed out in the home.
Court records said the women were approached by Justice Armani Blackburn, Harden’s nephew. Blackburn offered the three women a drink from a bottle he was holding, and they each drank a small amount.
From there, one of the women told investigators her memory became hazy, and she felt as though she was fading in and out of consciousness and unable to speak clearly.
The next thing she remembered, court documents noted, she recalled being assaulted by Blackburn. She also remembered being asked if she was on birth control during the attack.
Shortly after the assault had stopped, Harden’s security members entered the room and told the woman to leave the mansion.
Investigators said the woman was searching for her phone, but they rushed her out before she could find it. Her friends retrieved the phone before they were also escorted out. When her friends were asked to leave the mansion a short time before, the security team lied to them about her still being in the mansion, saying “there were no more women in the house.”
The lawsuit alleges that Harden’s security team allowed the women to be vulnerable inside the home, putting them in danger. The suit added that the security team’s urgency to remove the victim’s friends allowed the assault to happen and delayed her in receiving necessary help.
None of the parties involved have been criminally charged at this time. Harden has not publicly responded to the situation.
