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Moses Malone, Jr., the son of Hall-of-Famer Moses Malone, has accused James Harden of being the mastermind behind an assault and robbery at a Houston strip club last year. On Monday, Malone added Harden as a defendant in a civil suit related to the beating—originally filed last September—and claims the beating was in retaliation for a Facebook post in which he criticized Harden for charging $249 for his basketball camp, squeezing out inner-city kids.George Farah, Malone's attorney, told ESPN the post was referenced during the assault.
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Harden allegedly was so miffed about the post that he paid $20,000 in cash to have Malone beaten up. Harden has retained local attorney Rusty Hardin who told Fox 26 in Houston that the allegations are not true. "Unfortunately," he said, "I am afraid this is just another example of people shopping for a deep pocket when they find that the people actually responsible have no money."Malone originally sued the strip club and the bouncer he claimed initiated the attack, seeking damages for injury and loss of property. He alleged that the bouncer directed four armed men to attack him and they ripped out diamond earrings and stole other jewelry in the process. Four men, including the bouncer have been arrested, and the strip club has since been closed down."All the stories that we've heard from all the witnesses were pretty consistent that James Harden was pretty upset about the Facebook post that was posted the night before the attack," Farah told ESPN on Tuesday morning. "There were text messages between Moses and some of James Harden's friends. … We have a good trail of evidence that leads to James Harden's involvement to this."