A second man has come forward to allege that he was sexually assaulted by former judge and current Fox News judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano.
A lawsuit was filed accusing the on-air personality of sexual abuse, sexual assault, assault, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress in New Jersey state court on Monday morning. Through his attorney, Napolitano strongly disputed the allegations as “total fiction.” The Napolitano attorney called this a “copycat lawsuit” filed for “financial gain.”
Content warning: In the graphic filing, Napolitano is repeatedly accused of making unwanted sexual advances and lording his status and power over a young waiter in order to extort sexual favors. The filing also accuses the former judge of attempting to rape and sodomize the younger man.
According to the 18-page complaint obtained by Law&Crime, Napolitano followed James Kruzelnick into the bathroom of a New Jersey restaurant where the latter man worked in December 2014. Kruzelnick claims that he was then groped from behind by Napolitano, who allegedly said: “You are just so hot.”
The lawsuit documents the aftermath of that alleged incident.
“Plaintiff was shocked by Napolitano’s actions, as the two men did not know each other and had never been together outside of the restaurant prior to that night,” the filing alleges. “Plaintiff immediately pushed defendant Napolitano off of him, and told him that he shouldn’t do things like that in a public place, and that he shouldn’t touch him like that again. Plaintiff had no interest in Napolitano, who was 20 years older than him, and who was more of a father figure than anything else. Plaintiff felt that Napolitano was a brilliant man and he enjoyed speaking with him at the restaurant, but he did not want anything more than that to develop between them.”
Something more, however, apparently did develop.
“Napolitano would not be deterred,” the lawsuit claims. “After this unwanted groping, Napolitano’s sexual harassment of Plaintiff only increased. Every time Napolitano came to the restaurant, he would specifically ask for Plaintiff to be his waiter.”
Napolitano continued to frequent the Mohawk House in Sparta, New Jersey for at least several months following the alleged original groping incident and during that time, the lawsuit claims, Kruzelnick was repeatedly subjected to “sexual harassment” from Napolitano but the two eventually became friends.
“In January 2015, Napolitano started making sexually explicit remarks to Plaintiff,” the lawsuit alleges. “He started telling Plaintiff things that he would like to do to Plaintiff sexually, and started to ask him blunt sexual questions. Plaintiff was very uncomfortable with these sexual remarks. While Plaintiff looked up to Napolitano and saw hm as a very powerful and accomplished man, he did not want to engage in this type of sexual talk with Napolitano, especially in a work environment.”
Eventually the former judge appeared to get the message, according to the complaint.
“Napolitano continued to make sexually suggestive and inappropriate remarks, but he seemed to understand that Plaintiff was not interested in any sexual relationship but rather just wanted to be friends,” the filing continues. “As long as Napolitano respected these boundaries, Plaintiff was okay with their friendship and genuinely enjoyed their conversations at the restaurant about life, politics and world events.”
But later in 2015, after nine months of this unwanted pursuit and shaky friendship, Napolitano allegedly “forced” Kruzelnick to “engage” in a “bizarre sexual act” at the Fox News judicial analyst’s home.
The filing describes the alleged incident in graphic detail [emphasis in original]:
As defendant Napolitano entered the living room, Plaintiff observed that Napolitano’s pants were down, and his penis was fully erect and exposed. Plaintiff was truly shocked by Napolitano’s conduct, and didn’t know how to react. Before Plaintiff could say anything, Napolitano said “I am really into certain things” and “I want you to do something for me.” Thereafter, defendant Napolitano walked up to Plaintiff’s chair, and suddenly threw himself onto Plaintiff’s lap. Napolitano then told Plaintiff that “I want you to start slapping me really hard.” Before Plaintiff could say anything in response, defendant Andrew Napolitano then demanded that James Kruzelnick spank his exposed buttocks while Napolitano masturbated on his lap. Plaintiff was repelled by Napolitano’s request and had no interest in playing this bizarre “sex game.” But when Plaintiff told Napolitano that he did not want to spank him, Napolitano shouted at him: “just fucking do it!!”
“James Kruzelnick began spanking Andrew Napolitano on his buttocks while Napolitano masturbated,” the lawsuit continues. “Napolitano then demanded that James Kruzelnick call him ‘son’ while Plaintiff played the role of ‘daddy’ and spanked Napolitano. Thereafter, Andrew Napolitano ejaculated onto one of Plaintiff James Kruzelnick’s shoes, leaving Plaintiff feeling disgusted.”
Kruzelnick goes on to claim that Napolitano continued to “relentlessly pursue” him well into 2017.
After the alleged incident at the former judge’s home, Kruzelnick says that he turned to Napolitano because he was facing “severe discrimination at the restaurant based on his sexual orientation.” The plaintiff claims his boss regularly used anti-gay slurs against him, so Kruzelnick asked Napolitano for insight into his “legal options.”
Per the filing, Kruzelnick and Napolitano would later reprise the spanking-oriented “sex game” one evening after the former was “lured” to the latter’s home under the pretext that they would be discussing Kruzelnick’s legal recourse against Mohawk House owner Steven Scro.
The lawsuit outlines the alleged state of play:
Plaintiff felt like he could not risk telling Napolitano “No.” He feared not only that Napolitano would withdraw his offer for help, but also, that he would tell Steve Scro, his boss, that Plaintiff had gone to Napolitano to get legal advice for the discrimination he was experiencing at Mohawk House, which could cost him his job. The risk seemed too high to Plaintiff, so he acquiesced to Napolitano’s demands.
After that, Kruzelnick claims, Napolitano continued to sexually exploit him–by offering to somehow help “fix” his brother’s criminal case. In order to obtain a good result for his brother, the lawsuit says, Kruzelnick acquiesced to Napolitano’s unwanted sexual advances.
“While Plaintiff felt humiliated, degraded and abused by Napolitano, he also felt that he was powerless to stop the abuse,” the lawsuit explains. “If he refused to do what Napolitano wanted him to do, then Napolitano would refuse to help out his brother [who] would go to jail.”
The lawsuit also stops just short of alleging that Kruzelnick was drugged by Napolitano and forced to engage in a threesome with a Fox News intern.
Again, the filing, at length:
This was not the first time that Napolitano had brought a young man from Fox News to the Mohawk House for dinner. But it was the first time that Napolitano had actually introduced the young man to Plaintiff, and had made plans with Plaintiff that involved an intern from Fox News. Specifically, that evening Napolitano invited Plaintiff and the Fox News intern back to his home. Shortly after arriving at Napolitano’s home, Plaintiff was given a drink and within ten to fifteen minutes of consuming the beverage, Plaintiff felt extremely woozy as if he had been drugged. He woke up hours later in Napolitano’s bed, with blurred memories of engaging in a sexual threesome with Napolitano and the Fox news intern.
The former judge was previously sued for sexual assault in a New York federal court earlier this month. Then and now, Napolitano vigorously pushed back against the accusations.
“These allegations are total fiction, and Judge Napolitano unequivocally denies them,” attorney Tom Clare told Law&Crime in a statement. “This copycat lawsuit, filed and promoted publicly by the same lawyers representing career criminal Charles Corbishley, is nothing more than a pile-on attempt to smear Judge Napolitano for their own financial gain. We will defeat these false allegations in court and look forward to exposing this continuing attempt to abuse our court system to smear a highly-respected former public servant.”
Law&Crime reached out to Fox News for comment on this story but no response was forthcoming at the time of publication.
Read the full complaint below:
Kruzelnick v. Napolitano by Law&Crime on Scribd
[image via Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images]
