The identity of a former Duke University men's basketball player accused of rape by one of Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax's sexual assault accusers has been revealed as Corey Maggette.
A member of the 1999 Blue Devils team that reached the NCAA title game, Maggette went on to play 14 seasons in the NBA and currently works for Fox Sports West as a college basketball analyst.
According to The New York Times, Meredith Watson told a childhood friend and another friend that Maggette raped her at Duke University 20 years ago and that school officials did not pursue the claim.
Duke has acknowledged that it is currently investigating the allegations. "We are in the process of gathering information to determine what policies and procedures were in place during the time period in which these events are alleged to have occurred, and whether they were activated and followed," said university spokesperson Michael Schoenfeld. "We are not able to provide further information or comment on any individual at this time."
R. Stanton Jones, a partner at the law firm Arnold & Porter in Washington D.C. who grew up with Watson in Baltimore, said she told him in 2001 that she had been raped by Maggette two years earlier. "Meredith told me she had been raped twice at Duke," Jones said, as reported by the Times. "And she told me that one of the men who raped her was the Duke basketball player Corey Maggette. That was a name I knew because I'm a basketball fan."
Maggette denied the accusation through a spokesman Monday. "It has only been through media accounts and a statement from Meredith Watson's lawyer that I first learned or heard of anything about these sexual assault allegations," the statement read. "I have never sexually assaulted anyone in my life and I completely and categorically deny any such charge."
A spokeswoman for Fox Sports West said in an email to the Times, "Fox Sports takes allegations of misconduct seriously, and we are looking into the matter. We have no further comment at this time."
