A lawyer representing the Chicago Bulls and Derrick Rose called a lawsuit filed against the point guard accusing him of rape “outrageous.”
The suit, which can be read in full on the Chicago Tribune website, was filed Wednesday by an unidentified women who accuses Rose and two other men of drugging her and gang-raping her in Aug. 2013. The woman, who claims she dated Rose from 2011 to 2013, says the men slipped something into her drink while at the former MVP’s Beverly Hills home. According to her account, she was able to escape, but later that night Rose and his friends broke into her apartment and sexually assaulted her while she was incapacitated.
Rose’s lawyer Lisa Cohen wrote in a statement that the accusations were “completely false and without any factual basis.” Cohen acknowledged that Rose was involved in a relationship with the woman in question during that time period, but that it was both consensual and not exclusive.
“This is nothing more than a desperate attempt to shake down a highly respected and successful athlete,” the statement said. Cohen added that her legal team has “complete confidence that the case will be dismissed.”
The Bulls issued a statement Thursday: “We just learned about this matter and do not know all the facts. It would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.”
The Chicago Bulls and a lawyer for Derrick Rose did not immediately respond to Time’s request for comment.
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Write to Eliana Dockterman at eliana.dockterman@time.com