Ex-NBA player seeks sanctions against Madison Square Garden, lawyer Mastro

By David Thomas

July 8 (Reuters) - One-time New York Knicks All-Star Charles Oakley said Madison Square Garden and a New York City official serving as one of the stadium's lawyers should be sanctioned for making "false and baseless" statements about the former NBA player's ejection from the audience at a 2017 Knicks game.

Oakley on Monday asked a federal judge in Manhattan to award them attorney fees against the stadium and its longtime lawyer, first deputy New York City mayor Randy Mastro.

MSG last month filed its own sanctions motion against Oakley and his lawyers at Wigdor LLP and Petrillo Klein & Boxer, accusing them of pushing what they called a "false narrative" about Oakley's ejection. The stadium also asked the judge to dismiss Oakley's lawsuit for good.

The dueling sanctions bids are the latest contentious exchange in a eight-year lawsuit Oakley brought against MSG and James Dolan, who owns both the Knicks and the stadium.

In his filing on Monday, Oakley alleged that MSG and its lawyers "lied to the court repeatedly" about whether Dolan was involved in Oakley's televised removal.

MSG said Dolan was not involved, but Dolan testified in a deposition that he was, Oakley said.

Oakley asked U.S. Circuit Judge Richard Sullivan to censure Mastro and order him to take an ethics class. Mastro "lightly files statements that are objectively untrue, and which he knows to be untrue. In order to cover his tracks, he then lashes out with strategic sanctions motions against his adversaries," Oakley said.

Mastro and other lawyers for MSG did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Mastro is continuing to represent the stadium after he left law firm King & Spalding in March to join the mayor's office.

Wigdor partner Valdi Licul declined to comment.

Oakley is a 19-year NBA veteran and fan favorite who was a Knicks power forward from 1988 to 1998, and who has feuded with Dolan for years. Oakley has argued that MSG security guards used excessive force when they ejected him from his courtside seat during a February 8, 2017 game between the Knicks and Los Angeles Clippers.

He initially brought a bevy of claims against MSG and Dolan. He sued for defamation over several statements, including when the Knicks tweeted that his behavior at the game was "highly inappropriate and completely abusive" and expressed hope he "gets some help soon," which Oakley said insinuated substance abuse.

In his latest amended complaint from April 2024, the former NBA player is alleging claims of assault and battery against MSG and its related entities.