Knicks President Isiah Thomas blasted back yesterday at a former team executive who filed a blockbuster lawsuit accusing him of being a slobbering sex harasser.
“For me, this is just wrong,” he declared yesterday at a press conference held to dispute claims by former team marketing Vice President Anucha Browne Sanders.
“I will not allow her or anybody else, man or woman, to use me as a pawn for their financial gain,” he said. Sanders filed the sensational sex suit on Tuesday in Manhattan federal court. It claims Thomas made sexual advances toward her and insulted her as a “bitch” and a “ho.”
“I took this action because I had no choice,” the former Northwestern University basketball star said at her own press conference yesterday. “My pleas and complaints about Mr. Thomas’s illegal and offensive actions fell on deaf ears.”
Sanders, who had worked for the team from 2000 until she was fired this month, gave a brief statement about an hour before Thomas spoke out.
“Pursuing this complaint was a very painful decision because I knew it meant I would not only say farewell to my dream job, but that I would probably never be able to work again in professional basketball,” she said.
Sanders claims in her suit that ever since Thomas came to the Knicks in 2003 he showed “hostility toward her” and he “took pains to marginalize” her by going around and saying things such as “no one likes that black bitch.”
The suit says that after she didn’t back down from his aggressiveness, he then did a 180-degree turn and started making sexual advances toward her. He allegedly offered to take her “offsite” where she believes he wanted to have a randy encounter. She claimed that in December 2004 he even told her that he was “in love” with her.
Thomas blasted the allegations.
“I did not harass Anucha, I did not discriminate against her, I did not fire her, I did not participate in any discussion that led to her being fired – she didn’t to even work for me,” he said. “My job is and always has been to get the New York Knicks back to their championship days, and that is where my focus will remain.”
Sanders is a former IBM executive and mom of three whose college basketball exploits earned her a place in the Northwestern University sports Hall of Fame.
She lives in tony Short Hills, N.J., with her husband Roy and her children, the oldest of whom is 15.
Hailed as one of the top black female executives in New York, she claims in her suit that she has received positive reviews from her superiors at the Knicks.
A source close to the team, however, said she is under some financial strain. Her $500,000 home is now undergoing $180,000 in renovation, according to town records in Short Hills.
Her husband also has some minor tax problems – he has a $597 lien outstanding for unpaid personal income tax owed in Brooklyn. At least four other liens – ranging up to $7,000 – were filed against him. Their status is not known.
A source close to the team also said that Sanders had given indications that she would demand compensation long before she filed the suit.
The source said she told a Madison Square Garden executive last year that if she left the organization “with all the things I know, I should get $6 to $10 million.”
And that “one thing I know about this place is they always pay.”
Sanders’ lawyer, Kevin Mintzer dismissed the allegation, saying: “What you are being told is untrue, it’s garbage.”
Other sources told The Post that Sanders had approached Garden brass this month and demanded roughly $6 million – 24 years worth of salary for the $250,000-a-year VP – because of her alleged grievances. The team fired her soon after.
Mintzer also denied she made that demand and called the allegation that she was hard up for money a “diversion.”
But Garden President Steve Mills, who appeared with Thomas, said that “he was stunned to learn that while she was still an employee at MSG, she demanded $6.5 million to leave quietly. “Her threat was the only threat I was privy to,” he said.
At her press conference, Sanders spoke in a firm, slightly angry voice, saying she expected to be attacked by the Knicks.
“I was warned that Mr. Thomas and the Garden would launch a campaign to smear me,” she said. “I am not surprised . . . at any false and vicious accusations that they may spread about me and my family.”
Yesterday, several female executives who have worked with Thomas spoke out on his behalf.
“He has always treated me with dignity and respect.,” said Karin Buchholz, another Knicks VP.
“He is always respectful and very appreciative,” said Anne Marie Dunleavy, vice president of VIP services.
But two sources said Sanders’ claim that Thomas said “what, I can’t get any love from you today” sounds like something he has said previously.
“That rings true to anyone who knows him,” said a former co-worker of Thomas.
The suit alleges that, in addition to harassing Sanders, Thomas has asked another female employee to flirt with “men connected with the game and make them happy. “
It also claims that Thomas worked with the concierges of hotels where teams playing the Knicks would be staying. She said Thomas got them to steer opposing basketball players to strip clubs and nightclubs so that they would be too hung over to play well.
Sanders also claims that Thomas’ campaign of harassment turned Knicks players – who she had to work with on publicity events – against her.
Among them was star Stephon Mar bury. She said he one day declared: “F- – -that black bitch, she thinks she runs the Knicks, but she don’t run s- – – !”
Yester day, Marbury responded to the claim by saying, “I’m not at liberty to talk about that.”
But he spoke out in defense of Thomas.
“I know Isiah,” he said. “And I know he’s an honorable man. He’s a guy with a lot of character. I think everyone here is going to help out.”
In a bizarre twist, Sanders last month fired a relative of Marbury who worked in the marketing department, a Garden source said, adding that she was then scared of the man.
This prompted the team to post added security by her seat, the source said. He said Sanders complained thatthe security was not enough and wanted a private guard, but the team denied her request.
Additional reporting by Heidi Singer