Editor’s Note: This story contains descriptions of alleged sexual assault.
Warriors forward Anthony Lamb raped Kendall Ware when they were both students at the University of Vermont, Ware claims in a civil lawsuit she and two other women have filed against the university. Ware and the other plaintiffs say the university had a “willful indifference” to the sexual assaults.
The case has been dropped in the U.S. District Court in Burlington, Vermont, and was first reported by the Vermont publication Seven Days on Wednesday evening. He names the University of Vermont, its board of trustees and several administrators, including athletic director Jeff Schulman, as defendants.
SFGATE, like most other major news organizations, does not generally name victims of sexual assault. Ware has already spoken at length about her experience and has come forward as a plaintiff in this lawsuit.
Ware has publicly stated that she was raped by a star athlete while a swimmer at the University of Vermont, previously describing an incident with a “male basketball player” at the university. in media accounts and one removed since lawsuit against the NCAA. But she’s never named Lamb publicly before. An anonymous Instagram account had previously named Lamb, but the lawsuit is the first time Ware has done so.
Warriors president Bob Myers responded to the allegations when the team added Lamb this fall.
“We checked with the NBA, we checked with the two teams that had already signed him and we haven’t heard anything in terms of official charges or anything like that,” Myers said in October. “It’s difficult because we take it very seriously.” Myers added that if the NBA had told the Warriors not to sign Lamb, they would have listened to the league office.
“Anthony is not a defendant in this recent lawsuit and to the best of our knowledge has never been charged with wrongdoing in any court case,” the Warriors said in a statement to SFGATE on Thursday. “Prior to signing Anthony in September, we did our due diligence with the NBA and its previous teams, as we do with all players. If any new information comes to light, we will certainly assess it and act on it.”
Earlier this year, the University of Vermont denied a public records request from SFGATE, citing attorney-client privilege and state laws exempting “student records and personal documents.”
Ware’s account in the trial is graphic and depicts Lamb’s violent behavior.
In the suit, Ware says she dated Lamb for six months in 2019. Shortly after the couple ended their relationship in September of that year, Lamb “started yelling and insulting Ware at an off-campus party. The couple went to a bedroom at the party, where Lamb raped Ware, she said.
“Discussing their relationship and coming to terms with the fight, Lamb began having sex with Ware,” the suit reads. “During the encounter, without Ware’s consent, Lamb forcefully penetrated Ware anally as she repeatedly begged him to stop, telling him ‘no’ over and over again. Ignoring her unequivocal pleas, he said to “take that” and continued to rape her.
A month later, according to the lawsuit, Ware reported the rape and two other episodes with Lamb to the school’s Title IX office: “one where Lamb removed his condom, without consent, during intercourse; and another, at Lamb’s family home, where Lamb had filmed her having sex without her consent.
Lamb denied Ware’s account in a statement provided by the Warriors on Thursday. “The allegations made against me in 2019 which have recently resurfaced are patently false,” the statement read. “I have always been fully cooperative regarding the alleged incident and have welcomed any investigation into the matter. Simply put, I have never committed a sexual assault.
In the months that followed, Ware said, the school’s athletic department “encouraged” her not to file a formal complaint against Lamb.
Ware already said that school administrators “twisted his options to hold his abuser accountable, offering him a choice between pursuing harsh punishment for the player or not at all”.
The lawsuit accuses the university of failing to meet its obligations under Title IX, breach of contract, denial of equal protective rights, negligent infliction of emotional distress and unlawful sex discrimination under the law. of the state of Vermont. He seeks a jury trial for the defendants and unspecified damages.
Lamb, who is not named as a defendant in the civil lawsuit, finished the 2019-20 basketball season as America East Conference Player of the Year for the second straight time. After leaving Vermont, he bounced around in the NBA developmental league and on two-way contracts with the Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs before joining the Warriors this season. He was a big part of the bench for Golden State, averaging five points in 18 minutes per game.
This story has been updated with comments from Lamb and the Golden State Warriors.