Fired Detroit Pistons exec settles sexual harassment lawsuit with his executive assistant

A year after his firing over a sexual harassment scandal, disgraced Detroit Pistons executive Rob Murphy and the team have settled a contentious lawsuit with his accuser: DeJanai Raska, a former executive assistant to the powerful basketball figure who accused her boss of sexually taunting her for months.

According to lawyers for both sides, 33-year-old Raska has reached a confidential settlement with the Pistons and 51-year-old Murphy, one year after suing both in Wayne County Circuit Court, alleging the Piston's former assistant general manager used his position to turn her into his sexual target. Among her allegations:

She said he groped her private parts in front of her 4-year-old daughter, grabbed her buttocks multiple times, subjected her to unwanted kissing, often told her she aroused him and said he wanted to "put a baby in her."

The settlement comes 18 months after Murphy was placed on leave from the Pistons as the organization quietly investigated claims that he had engaged in workplace misconduct with a former female employee.

Six months after placing him on leave, the Pistons formally announced Murphy's firing after the Free Press inquired about his job status.

"Rob Murphy no longer works for the Detroit Pistons or Motor City Cruise, in any capacity. Mr. Murphy was recently terminated for violation of company policy and the terms of his employment agreement," the statement reads. "The facts that gave rise to his termination surfaced during a review, assisted by a national law firm, of allegations made by a former employee."

Raska did not go public with her claims for many months, breaking her silence in an interview with the Free Press.

"It felt like I had a dangerous secret. I felt like if the wrong person found out, I could be fired," Raska said during the interview, stressing she lived with fear and anxiety for months, until she couldn't take it anymore.

"Silence is not an option," Raska said. "It's not for me. It shouldn't be for any woman. … This is my chance to voice the truth … and to take my power back."

Murphy is locally renowned. A former basketball and football star at Detroit Mumford, he coached at Detroit Crockett and Central high schools before becoming an assistant coach in college, first at Kent State and then at Syracuse. He also was head coach at Eastern Michigan for 10 seasons (2011-21) and reached three postseasons.

In 2021, he was hired as president and general manager of the Motor City Cruise. That same year, the Detroit Pistons hired him as senior director of player personnel, and eventually promoted him to assistant general manager.