NIGGARICH!
By: Tommy “Tj” Sotomayor

CLEVELAND, Ohio — A judge in Cleveland on Monday tossed professional boxer Adrien Broner in jail after holding him in contempt of court as part of a civil lawsuit filed by a woman he assaulted at a nightclub in 2018.

Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Nancy Margaret Russo found the 31-year-old Broner failed to cooperate with multiple deadlines she set for him to hand over documents and other evidence showing why he has not been able to pay the more than $800,000 judgment the judge ordered him to pay the woman in December.

Russo cited an Instagram video posted this week showing Broner handling large stacks of money after saying in an Oct. 5 court filing in that he had just over $13 in cash. Russo ordered Broner to remain in jail until he provides complete and truthful information about his finances to the woman’s attorney, Subodh Chandra and the Chandra Law Firm.

“Mr. Broner has continually defied every court ordered I’ve given,” Russo said during the hearing. “The jig is up today.”

Russo set a Wednesday hearing for Broner and his attorney, Stanley Jackson, to show they are complying in the case, and Cuyahoga County sheriff’s deputies placed Broner in handcuffs and led him out of the courtroom.

Broner, who last boxed in January 2019, said he is preparing for a fight scheduled in January that will bring him “a significant purse” and he expects to be able to pay the judgment in full after the fight.

The order is the latest legal problem that the once world champion fighter faced in connection with the case.

Broner was originally charged in November 2018 with gross sexual imposition, a fourth-degree felony, misdemeanor sexual imposition and abduction, a third-degree felony, after a then-35-year-old Wickliffe woman accused him of sexually assaulting her at a nightclub in Cleveland’s Warehouse District neighborhood during the 2018 NBA Finals.

Broner pleaded guilty in April 2019 to assault and unlawful restraint, both misdemeanors, and Judge Sherrie Miday placed him on probation for two years. He was arrested in Miami in March on drunken-driving charges, and Miday in August sentenced Broner to seven days in jail for violating his probation.

The woman filed a civil lawsuit against him, and Broner did not hire a lawyer or show up to any court hearings, resulting in Russo ruling in the woman’s favor. Chandra’s firm then requested information about his finances after he didn’t pay the judgment, and ordered him to supply the information. The coronavirus pandemic pushed hearings back several months, and Russo ultimately ordered Broner to hand over the information before he was set to sit for a deposition scheduled last Friday.

Chandra said the information Broner and Jackson handed over before the deposition was incomplete and insufficient to the point he could not prepare questions for a deposition. Russo set Monday’s hearing for Broner and Jackson to show they should not both be held in contempt of court.

Both Broner and Jackson were late to Monday’s 1 p.m. hearing. They were also late to the last hearing in August, according to court records. Russo called the pair’s tardiness unacceptable and “continued disrespect of my time.”

Jackson, whom Broner only hired in late September, said he was trying to get his hands on Broner’s tax returns Monday morning to hand the over to Chandra. Broner said he had trouble hailing an Uber from the airport.

Jackson told Russo that Broner had issues of mental illness and alcohol abuse and relied on others, namely his mother and his manager and promoter, to handle his finances. Jackson said Broner relied on them so heavily that he didn’t know whether he owned or leased his vehicles or whose name his house in Florida was under.

Russo called that the information “very interesting” but told Jackson it was irrelevant as to why Broner continued to not show up to court hearings or provide timely information to the woman’s attorneys.

Broner told Russo that he didn’t have money to hire a lawyer until recently and that he didn’t understand many of the questions in Chandra’s requests. Russo quizzed him about the money in the Instagram video, and he said his friends frequently transferred money into his bank accounts because, before he had money problems, he often gave money to them.

“I have rich friends,” he said.

Broner went 33-4-1 in his career that spanned four different weight divisions. He last fought in January 2019, losing in a unanimous decision to Manny Pacquiao. He was 0-2-1 in his final three bouts.

He announced earlier this year that he would give up boxing to pursue a career as a musical artist, then told the Wyatt Live podcast that he planned to return to fighting by the end of 2020.