Fairfax Accuser Said Ex-NBA Player Also Raped Her

The mess at the top of Virginia's leadership continues, with neither Gov. Ralph Northam nor Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax making any move to step down. A friend of Meredith Watson, one of the two women who've said Fairfax sexually assaulted them, tells the New York Times that Watson told him in 2001 that she was raped by ex-NBA player Corey Maggette at Duke University a few years earlier. That's an assertion seemingly backed up by an unverified 2017 Facebook message between Watson and another friend that Watson's spokeswoman gave to the Times. In a statement, Watson's lawyer, Nancy Erika Smith, said her client was raped by a Duke basketball player her sophomore year (though Smith didn't name Maggette, 39) and that an unnamed dean whom Watson had told "discouraged her from pursuing the claim further."

Per CNN, Smith also said Fairfax, a friend of Watson's at Duke, had known Maggette assaulted Watson, and that Fairfax told Watson after he allegedly assaulted her, "I knew ... you'd be too afraid to say anything." Maggette, who's now a basketball analyst for Fox Sports, denied the allegation in a statement, adding, "I have never sexually assaulted anyone in my life." Duke says it's looking into the matter, though a school rep wouldn't confirm Maggette was named as the attacker, nor that the school had rebuffed Watson. Mike Krzyzewski, the head coach of Duke's men's basketball team for nearly 40 years, tells the Times he had "no knowledge" of the accusations until just recently. Meanwhile, per the Richmond Times-Dispatch, four Fairfax staffers—two government employees and two members of his PAC—have stepped away from their jobs since Watson came forward. (More Justin Fairfax stories.)