Oscar De La Hoya sued over alleged sexual assaults in 2020
Former boxing star Oscar De La Hoya was accused of sexual assault in a new civil lawsuit filed Wednesday in Los Angeles, according to The Los Angeles Times.
A tequila company executive accused De La Hoya of sexually assaulting her during a trip to the Casa Mexico Tequila distillery in Mexico in March 2020, and then again when they returned to Los Angeles.
The woman alleges that while at the hotel, De La Hoya banged on her door “with his pants dropped down to his ankles, then pushed his way into the room and got into her bed,” per The Times. The woman said she pushed De La Hoya from her bed and quickly walked him to his room before returning to her own and going to sleep.
The next morning, after noticing that De La Hoya was missing from a tour the group was supposed to take at the distillery, the woman said she went to his room to find him. There, she said, De La Hoya “pulled [her] into his bed, where he sexually assaulted her.”
Then after the group returned to Los Angeles, a group of executives and De La Hoya — who is a partner with the company — went to dinner and then all returned to his home after, according to the suit.
“At some point, when De La Hoya was alone with [the woman], he revealed and retrieved a sexual object from a stored collection in his house. Without [her] consent, De La Hoya forcibly inserted the sexual object into [her] body,” the lawsuit states, via The Times.
De La Hoya issued a brief statement denying the accusations against him.
"With the 24-hour news cycle we all find ourselves in, more often than not, malicious and unjust accusations are interpreted as truth without the evidence to support their erroneous claims," he said. "I am confident my legal team will resolve this matter and prove my innocence.”
The woman also filed a lawsuit against Casa Mexico, alleging sexual harassment, retaliation, gender discrimination and wrongful termination. She said she reported the second assault to the Casa Mexico founder, but that no action was taken.
“Officers and partners of Casa Mexico, almost exclusively men, and including Michael A. Gooch, Robert Crossan and Oscar De La Hoya, created a work environment which resulted in a tragic, humiliating, physically and emotionally damaging, experience, both personally and professionally,” the lawsuit states, via The Times.
De La Hoya retired from fighting in 2008 with a 39-6 career record and 11 world titles to his name. He now works as a boxing promoter with Golden Boy Promotions. The 49-year-old was accused of sexual assault in 1998 in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, after a woman alleged that he raped and imprisoned her when she was a teenager, according to The Times. No criminal charges were filed, but a settlement was reached out of court.
