Seton Hall basketball star Michael Nzei acquitted of sexual assault charges

Former Seton Hall basketball standout Michael Nzei has been acquitted of charges that he held down and sexually assaulted a woman in his Newark, New Jersey home on Christmas Day 2021.

A lawyer for the former power forward told NJ Advance Media on Tuesday that the charges were voluntarily dropped by prosecutors “just days before the trial was set to begin.”

The 28-year-old MBA graduate and current Goldman Sachs executive was charged with second-degree sexual assault, third-degree false imprisonment and simple assault against a woman who said she met Nzei at a bar on Christmas Eve. She claimed she then drove him to his apartment, where she was later attacked, according to NJ.com.

The 2019 Big East Athlete of the Year initially told investigators he was home with COVID-19 over the Christmas season, then reportedly recalled rough but consensual sex with a woman he met at a bar.

The alleged victim told investigators she drank wine with Nzei at his house and rejected his advances before the 6-foot-8 athlete forced himself on her. When the former Pirates star fell asleep, his unidentified accuser contacted her mother, who alerted police.

She also asked the concierge of his building to call the police. The police said the plaintiff’s face was bruised when they spoke to her.

But on June 3, charges against Nzei were dropped “in their entirety at the request of the prosecutor,” shortly before his trial was set to begin, NJ.com reports.

The defendant’s lawyer, Patrick Toscano, told the news agency: “Michael was wrongly accused and charged with offenses that had no factual basis and could not be proven in the first instance.”

Toscano told NJ.com that Nzei was “another example” of an outstanding athlete and businessman “who was dragged through the mud simply because of his success on the basketball court and later in the business world.”

Nzei’s LinkedIn page states that the former student-athlete joined Goldman Sachs in December 2021 and was recently promoted to vice president.

University of Illinois basketball star Terrence Shannon was acquitted of a rape charge last week after a Kansas woman accused him of sexually assaulting her at a bar. His name could be called at the NBA draft this week.