Members of the "Central Park Five" filed a defamation lawsuit against former President Donald Trump on Monday, alleging he made "false and defamatory" remarks about their 1989 case during a recent presidential debate.
The five men allege in their federal lawsuit that Trump knowingly acted with "reckless disregard" for the truth when he claimed during the September debate with Vice President Kamala Harris that they had pleaded guilty to crimes related to the assault and rape of a woman in Central Park. Trump also falsely asserted that the five teens “badly hurt” or “killed a person” in the attack.
The lawsuit, filed in Philadelphia, asserts that none of the men—Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron Brown, and Korey Wise—ever pleaded guilty, instead maintaining their innocence throughout their trial, imprisonment, and even after their exoneration. The plaintiffs' attorneys pointed out that none of the victims in the case were killed.
Trump’s campaign spokesperson, Steven Cheung, dismissed the lawsuit as “another frivolous, Election Interference lawsuit,” suggesting it was intended to divert attention from Vice President Harris's campaign.
The men are seeking both compensatory and punitive damages, claiming that Trump’s statements caused emotional distress and placed them in a false light. They were exonerated in 2002 after DNA evidence linked another individual to the crime. Following their release, the men sued New York City and settled the case in 2014.
Trump, who was a prominent figure in New York at the time, famously took out full-page ads in several newspapers in 1989 calling for the death penalty, which have been cited as racially charged and inflammatory. His remarks during the recent debate came after Harris referenced these ads when discussing race and politics.
Despite their exoneration, Trump has continued to criticize the men, standing by his earlier claims, including in a 2016 interview where he stated, “They admitted they were guilty,” and in a 2014 op-ed where he criticized the $41 million settlement the city reached with the five men as “a disgrace.”