Former NFL player and sportscaster Marcellus Wiley is now facing fresh allegations from four more women in newly filed New York court papers, widening an already active legal battle tied to his years at Columbia University and later in California and New York. The sworn statements describe alleged incidents from the mid-1990s through 2009 and include a claim that one woman was groomed as a minor and another, a former ESPN production assistant, was assaulted in a hotel. These new accounts were submitted with a motion to convert an existing lawsuit into a class action, with a hearing on certification scheduled for May 12, 2026. Wiley has denied wrongdoing in earlier court filings.
What the filings allege
According to statements obtained by Rolling Stone, one accuser says Wiley began grooming her when she was 13 after a visit to her Buffalo middle school, later flying her to Dallas on her 18th birthday and raping her. The filings also describe a former ESPN production assistant who alleges Wiley invited her to a hotel room in 2009 under the pretense of a work meeting and then assaulted her, along with two additional women who say he raped them in California in the late 1990s. Each new statement was signed under penalty of perjury and added to court papers that seek broader relief.
How this ties to earlier suits
The latest accounts build on complaints first reported in 2023 and a follow-up filing in 2025 that accuse Wiley of raping Columbia students in October and November 1994, according to People. Those earlier lawsuits claim campus officials discouraged the women from going to police and opted to handle the allegations internally, while Wiley has disputed the accusations in court. Plaintiffs argue that the new sworn statements show a pattern of alleged conduct that they say Columbia should have confronted more forcefully at the time.
Columbia's role and the class-action push
Lead counsel Laura Gentile argues in court papers, as reported by Rolling Stone, that Columbia "hid the rapes by Wiley" and placed him on academic probation instead of reporting the alleged misconduct to law enforcement. Gentile writes that the university's response created "a false image of Wiley" that, according to plaintiffs, left more women vulnerable to harm. Columbia and Wiley have pushed back in their own filings, denying liability and arguing that the claims should not move forward as a class action.
Legal stakes and what happens next
A hearing to decide whether the lead plaintiff can pursue the case as a class action is set for May 12, with a ruling expected in the weeks afterward, according to Law Commentary. If the judge grants class status, plaintiffs say it could open the door to broader discovery into Columbia's handling of earlier complaints and give other alleged survivors a path to join a single lawsuit. Wiley continues to deny the allegations in his court answers, and Columbia has filed responses contesting liability.
