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BJ Penn Claims Sexual Assault Allegations Are Rants of Disgruntled Fired Employee
UFC Hall of Famer BJ Penn was supposed to be coming out of retirement to fight in the Octagon soon, but he is instead fighting allegations that he sexually assaulted the girlfriend of a former employee.
Former BJPenn.com editor Pedro Alex Carrasco made the allegations against Penn public earlier this week when he tweeted, “Tired of seeing this pervert BJ Penn in the news. Dude’s a cocaine addict, who sexually assaulted my Playboy model GF, and I have proof.”
Carrasco worked for several years at BJPenn.com and says that he lived next door to Penn for 10 years. He left the website late last year, but didn’t publicly make any claims about the alleged sexual assault of his girlfriend until now. He also alleges that Penn abuses cocaine.
HOT TOPIC > BJ Penn Accused of Sexual Assault, UFC Puts His Return on Hold
“Worked with that scumbag for almost 10yrs, lived next door to him. He’s had a Coke problem since he was a kid,” Carrasco tweeted. “Came to my home when I wasn’t there and forced himself on my girl, pulled her clothes off, then blamed me, said I looked at his GF ass.”
Carrasco claims to have proof of the allegations, but that “those clamoring for evidence will have to wait, there is an investigation pending with the authorities.”
Penn's representatives released a statement via BJPenn.com late Thursday denying the accusations, claiming that they were the rantings of a disgruntled former employee.
“The allegations that Pedro and his girlfriend are making against BJ Penn simply aren’t true. Penn trusted Pedro to run his website for almost a decade and considered him family. He was fired last year for unethical behavior and was provided a severance that ended on February 16, 2016. One day later allegations appeared in a one sided Twitter rant which happen to be many months after the alleged date in question. (August of 2015),” read the statement.
“There are many holes in Pedro’s story. In the almost 15 years that Penn has been a champion fighter there has not ever been any incident or allegation in regards to his conduct with women. He is family man and father of two young daughters with a known long term girlfriend. It is unfortunate that someone that BJ considered family is trying to extort him.”
Penn expected to return to action at UFC 197 on April 23, but considering the seriousness of the allegations, UFC officials issued a statement earlier in the day on Thursday saying that they had put Penn's return on hold pending an independent investigation into the matter.
“Every athlete is deserving of proper review and this situation, as with any serious allegation, will be investigated by an independent party and thoroughly reviewed by the UFC. The UFC organization will also cooperate with any law enforcement investigation,” read the UFC's statement. “In light of the serious allegations, UFC has postponed plans to book Penn for an upcoming bout until more details are determined.”
