Add famed Cleveland Indians leadoff hitter and stolen base king Kenny Lofton to the record of Cleveland sports activities figures being accused of sexual misconduct in civil court docket. The retired six-time All-Star is now being sued by a former worker, who says he was fired for allegedly bringing Lofton’s lurid office habits to the eye of superiors, in accordance with paperwork obtained by Deadspin. Lofton, who based Centerblock Asset Administration LLC, an funding agency and NFT office, is accused of retaliating in opposition to the plaintiff Brandyn Toney, who served because the artistic director for Lofton’s firm.
In line with the criticism filed in Los Angeles Superior Court docket on Monday, a feminine worker working underneath Toney was tasked with monitoring Lofton’s Instagram and direct messages. The go well with claims that whereas performing her job duties, the feminine worker was typically uncovered to sexually specific photographs of Lofton, who would allegedly ship photographs of his genitalia to ladies on Instagram. As early as February 2022, the criticism says the feminine worker contacted in-house counsel Mark Lui. The lawsuit additional alleges that, on June 8, Lofton’s inappropriate actions had been dropped at Toney’s consideration by the feminine worker.
Hours after Toney allegedly reported the accusations in opposition to Lofton to Lui, he was terminated. Toney, who claimed to idolize Lofton and relished the chance to work for him, agreed to obtain an $85,000 wage upon his hiring, however says he as a substitute spent seven months working grueling hours for minimal wage after he was employed in December 2021. Following his termination, the go well with says Lofton’s firm refused to pay him his agreed-upon wage. On June 15, Toney claims he emailed Lui, to inquire concerning the suspiciousness of his firing hours after reporting the allegations in opposition to Lofton for the primary time. In response, Lui allegedly merely knowledgeable him he was now not an worker of the corporate.
Toney is suing and searching for damages in opposition to Lofton’s firms, Centerblock Asset Administration, and Proxime Company, for violations of the Truthful Employment and Housing Act, breach of contract, and harassment within the office. Deadspin reached out to Lofton and Centerblock for remark, however was unable to succeed in anybody prepared to talk with us concerning the lawsuit.
“Lofton and his government crew thought they may hearth our shopper for objecting to apparent sexual misconduct and even thought they may get away with not paying him for his work,” stated Toney’s legal professional Ronald L. Zambrano in an e mail. “That speaks to the vanity and dysfunction at play every single day at Centerblock and Proxime.”
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If the allegations in the lawsuit are proven true, this may be an open and shut case. Given that the accusations against Lofton are fairly recent, it will be interesting to see what type of evidence Toney compiled and how Lofton defends himself. If true, it would be also an especially bizarre use of his authority to subject a female underling to his genitalia through photos sent to other women. Additionally, if Lofton was indeed brazen enough to exploit a young professional (who admired him so much he worked for pennies on the dollar) and then financially punished him for reporting accusations, it exemplifies a penchant for exploiting individuals that extends beyond the typically disgusting behavior by public figures that have been exposed in the #MeToo era.
