New York Rangers star Artemi Panarin was accused of sexual assault by a team employee in December 2023, resulting in financial settlements, according to a new report from The Athletic.
The 33-year-old forward and the Madison Square Garden Company, which owns the team, each agreed to pay a financial settlement this past August to the employee, while having her sign non-disclosure and no admission of wrongdoing clauses, according to the report.
The report said the alleged assault occurred following a postgame gathering at a hotel. Panarin was accused of taking the employee’s phone and asking her back to his hotel room, where he allegedly attempted the assault before she pushed him away and left the room.
There is no record of the employee reporting the alleged incident to law enforcement, and she did not alert the team until roughly three months later, when the Rangers were investigating a separate matter involving the same employee giving ‘anti-anxiety medicine’ to a player on a team flight. That incident was referenced in a report from lohud.com, part of the USA TODAY Network, in a December 2024 story, which noted that the Rangers’ social media employees were no longer permitted to travel with the team as a result.
Prior to the 2024-25 season, a letter signed by Rangers president Chris Drury, Knicks president Leon Rose and MSG COO Jamaal Lesane was distributed to all team employees issuing “a reminder regarding the expectations of behavior when interacting with the players or coaches of any of our Teams.”
Staffers were told that “absent written approval from an Executive Vice President (‘EVP’) or above,” they were prohibited from staying at the same hotel as any of the teams under the MSG umbrella, including the minor-league Hartford Wolf Pack and Westchester Knicks, traveling on team flights or buses, or attending team social gatherings or meals, according to the memo obtained by lohud.com.
Furthermore, it mandated that employees keep as much distance as possible at the rink.
“Interactions between employees and players or coaches must be strictly limited except as necessary to satisfy the requirements of an employee’s role,” it read. “Failure to comply with the directives set forth in this memorandum may result in disciplinary action, including, without limitation, termination of employment.”
The team employee was asked to clarify why she left the organization shortly after lohud.com’s story was published in December 2024, which she declined while noting she was ‘legally forbidden.’
Regarding the accusations against Panarin, who has been the Rangers’ leading scorer for six straight seasons and will be entering the final year of his seven-year, $81.5 million contract next season, an MSG Sports spokesperson issued a statement saying, ‘The matter has been resolved.’
Vincent Z. Mercogliano is the New York Rangers beat reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Read more of his work at lohud.com/sports/rangers/ and follow him on Twitter @vzmercogliano.
