Jury finds Isiah Thomas harassed ex-executive

NEW YORK – A federal jury decided Madison Square Garden and its chairman must pay $11.6 million in damages to former New York Knicks executive Anucha Browne Sanders in her sexual harassment lawsuit.\nThe jury also found Knicks coach Isiah Thomas, who led Indiana to the 1981 NCAA championship and coached the Pacers from 2000 to 2003, subjected Browne Sanders to unwanted advances and a barrage of verbal insults, but that he did not have to pay punitive damages.\nDeciding MSG had harassed Browne Sanders, the jury found the Garden owes $6 million for allowing a hostile work environment to exist and $2.6 million for retaliation; MSG chairman James Dolan owes $3 million.\n“What I did here, I did for every working woman in America,” said Browne Sanders, who came out of the courtroom beaming. “And that includes everyone who gets up and goes to work in the morning, everyone working in a corporate environment.”\nShe said it also was for “women who don’t have the means and couldn’t possibly have done what I was able to do.”\nThe Garden said it would appeal, but the verdict gave Thomas a partial victory after an ugly, three-week trial.\n“I’m innocent, I’m very innocent, and I did not do the things she has accused me in this courtroom of doing,” said Thomas, who is married with two children. “I’m extremely disappointed that the jury did not see the facts in this case.”