Boxing legend George Foreman is being accused of sexually assaulting and abusing two teenage girls nearly 50 years ago.
The boxer, who was the world’s heavyweight champ in 1973 and later enjoyed a string of media appearances and business ventures, is the focus of two shocking new lawsuits filed this week in Los Angeles.
According to multiple reports, the legal papers were filed on Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court by two women. In each lawsuit, the women claim their fathers worked with Foreman during his rise in the boxing world. Along with it, he allegedly started grooming them as children.
The women, who are identified in the lawsuits under pseudonyms Denise S. and Gwen H., claim they met Foreman in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Foreman is listed as “Doe” defendant in the suits, too. However, THR notes the documents identify the unnamed man as a former boxer who first went pro in 1969 and defeated Joe Frazier for the heavyweight championship in 1973 — so it’s undoubtedly Foreman.
As for specifics, Denise S. claims she first met Foreman when she was 8 years old. She alleged in the docs that he groomed her for several years until a fateful phone call in hear early teen years:
“When Plaintiff was 13 years old, Doe called Plaintiff at her home in Hayward, California and asked Plaintiff if she knew how to masturbate. During the call, Doe gave plaintiff instructions on how to masturbate herself.”
OMG…
The woman went on to claim Foreman allegedly raped her several times in 1976. She identifies those alleged assaults as occurring at a hotel in San Francisco.
In the second suit, Gwen H. claimed her father worked as an advisor to the star during his career. After first meeting the boxer as a child, Foreman later invited her to his apartment when she was 15 years old. The filing alleges Foreman threatened her with the loss of her father’s job if she didn’t do as he asked:
“DOE threatened that if she didn’t comply, her dad would lose his job. DOE then instructed Plaintiff to remove her clothes. Feeling the duress and coercion of this threat, Plaintiff complied with DOE’s commands.”
Gwen also alleged Foreman raped her “several times” when she was 15 and 16. The suits claim there are supposedly other women who were allegedly assaulted by the athlete, too. Both complaints cite sexual battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Each lawsuit seeks more than $25 million in damages, per The Hollywood Reporter.
In a statement first published by TMZ, the 73-year-old former pro athlete denied the allegations. The boxer said:
“Over the past six months, two women have been trying to extort millions of dollars each from me and my family. They are falsely claiming that I sexually abused them over 45 years ago in the 1970s. I adamantly and categorically deny these allegations. The pride I take in my reputation means as much to me as my sports accomplishments, and I will not be intimidated by baseless threats and lies. I am, and always will be, guided by my faith and trust in God. I will work with my lawyers to fully and truthfully expose my accusers’ scheme and defend myself in court. I don’t pick fights, but I don’t run away from them either.”
Wow.
As THR notes, this lawsuit was able to be filed after so many years due to an an amendment the state of California passed in 2020 to extend the statute of limitations on certain sex crimes. The amendment is meant to give victims of childhood sexual assault more time to file redress.
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