Report: Woman Told Police That Mark Cuban Sexually Assaulted Her While Posing For Photo In 2011

Willamette Week has obtained and published excerpts of a 2011 police report investigating a woman’s claim that Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban sexually assaulted her while posing for a photo, allegedly reaching his hand down the back of her jeans and inserting his finger in her vagina. Cuban denied the accusation, and no charges were filed.

Cuban had been in Portland for a Mavericks-Trail Blazers game in April 2011. He encountered the woman while out at a bar, and she asked to take a photo with him.

“He then moved his hand down until it was on her buttocks,” read the Portland police detective’s summary of the alleged victim’s statement, obtained by Willamette Week. “Cuban then pushed his hand down the back of her jeans and inside her underwear where he cupped his hand over her groin area and inserted the tip of his finger into her vagina.”

The woman gave seven cell phone photos from the evening to police, but the bureau declined to release them to Willamette Week. Two of the photos were described as notable in the police report:

In both images, Cuban’s right shoulder is lowered and he appears to be stretching to reach his arm down. In one of the pictures, his arm can be seen behind [the alleged victim] and it appears Cuban is reaching down toward her buttocks.

The woman went to police a week later, and Cuban was contacted soon after. He immediately denied the allegations, and his lawyer contacted two urologists who gave a statement claiming that Cuban physically could not have committed the assault in question: “[Cuban] is a large male with large hands, making penetration without lubrication of the woman in the standing position virtually impossible.” Police completed the investigation, with insufficient evidence to file charges, in July 2011.

Rather than directing police detective Brendan McGuire to his lawyer, Cuban agreed to a phone interview about the allegations himself. Here are some of the excerpts published by WW:

Cuban: Look, I’m, I’m, I’m not gonna sit here, I, how did she say I touched her? Look, people, people hug me. People grab me. People grab onto me all the time.

McGuire: Sure.

Cuban: And it wouldn’t shock me if, you know, I like put my arm around somebody or, I mean, but I inappropriately touched? Like in what manner?

McGuire: Well, I’ll tell you what the allegation is. And, of course, keep in mind, Mr. Cuban, that I’m not sitting here talking to you, accusing you of anything.

McGuire: Well, there are two pictures. I will tell that you can’t see your hands in any of them. Frankly, the cellphone picture quality is not good enough to do that. There are two pictures that do appear to have your shoulder dipping and your arm sort of, if you follow the direction of it, down below her waist.

Cuban: Are you kidding me?

McGuire: No.

Cuban: ‘Cause I always make a point to show my ring finger whenever I take pictures with girls. My left hand.

Cuban: But there’s no way that anybody is ever going to say or know. It would’ve happened right then if they would’ve seen or known something. They would’ve stood up. I mean, anybody can make this shit up.

McGuire: That is also true. I will certainly concede that. And then once I’ve conducted as thorough an investigation as I can, our district attorney would look at it and make a decision if they thought there was enough evidence for a prosecution.

Cuban: And what’s your gut feel?

McGuire: At this point, I can’t tell you that. And I can’t really ethically tell you that anyway.

Cuban: Oh that’s fine. That’s fine. That’s fine. That’s fine. That’s fine. She said I stuck my finger up her crack or crotch?

McGuire: Yeah.

McGuire: Well, if what she is alleging were true, then under Oregon law, let’s see, that would be a sex abuse in the second degree, which is a felony. It’s the lowest-level felony there is, but it is a felony. And basically, the legal definition of that is penetration without someone’s consent but not any force or threats or anything like that.

Cuban: Right.

McGuire: And then as far as the consequences, I mean, that obviously that’s way down the road, possibly farther than we could even look. It’s all kind of things could happen.

Cuban: Oh my Lord. Oh my fucking Lord. Oh, that’s what you get for being nice.

[Willamette Week]