Former MLB star Kenny Lofton accused of sexual misconduct by ex-employee
Kenny Lofton, a former Major League Baseball All-Star, is accused of exposing a female employee to explicit pictures of his body that he sent to women on Instagram, according to a lawsuit filed Monday by a former employee at an investment firm Lofton co-owns.
Brandyn Toney, who worked as chief creative officer for Centerblock Asset, says that he was fired in June and that the company refused to pay his $85,000 salary after he reported an incident where a female employee said she was exposed to images of Lofton’s penis.
Toney said that in February a female subordinate reported to the company’s attorney that she saw the images that Lofton allegedly sent in private messages to various women on Instagram, according to the lawsuit filed by Toney in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
The female employee monitored Lofton’s Instagram as part of her work, and Toney learned about the situation in June, according to the lawsuit. He notified the same company attorney about Lofton allegedly exposing an employee to sexually inappropriate conduct, and Toney was fired two hours after he sent the email, the complaint said.
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In his lawsuit against Lofton and the company, Toney said he worked grueling hours for Centerblock and Proxime, which are joint employers. He also took the job because of Lofton, whom he idolized as an athlete and who “represented a positive black-male role-model,” something that Toney valued while growing up without a father, according to his complaint.
Lofton, 55, a six-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glove Award winner, spent the majority of his 17-year career in Cleveland and one season with the Dodgers.
While employed at Centerblock, Toney oversaw the strategy and execution of all creative goals at the company, according to his attorneys. Toward the end of his time at Centerblock, he also oversaw the social media strategy for the companies, the complaint said.
Lofton joined the world of NFTs, or nonfungible tokens, when he co-founded Centerblock in 2021. NFTs work like bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, but are meant to be unique and allow a buyer to claim sole ownership of the digital item.
Still trying to figure out why anyone would pay thousands of dollars for a digital image that can be freely copied? Here’s a primer on NFTs.
Toney named Lofton, Centerblock and its senior officers in his lawsuit, which claims retaliation, failure to prevent harassment, breach of contract and other charges.
Centerblock did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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