Derrick Rose, co-defendants seek to recoup $70,000 from their rape accuser

After being cleared on all charges in his civil rape trial last month, former NBA MVP Derrick Rose and his two friends are trying to recoup $70,000 in court costs from their accuser, according to reports.

Rose and childhood friends Ryan Allen and Randy Hampton were accused by the New York Knicks point guard’s ex-girlfriend of drugging her, breaking into her Los Angeles apartment and gang-raping her in August 2013. The 30-year-old woman sought $21.5 million in a civil lawsuit. A jury exonerated the three men on Oct. 19 after deliberating for almost four hours following the two-week trial.

The prevailing party in a civil trial is allowed to seek some court costs from its opposition under federal law, and a recent court filing illustrates Rose and his co-defendants plan to do just that.

Meanwhile, according to L.A.’s City News Service and Dan Werly of sports law website The White Bronco, the lawyers for Rose’s accuser still intend to appeal the jury’s ruling — a process that would have to be put into motion by Friday — and asked the judge to rule against the $70,000 award, citing her “limited resources,” a deterrence for future litigants and an ex-prosecutor’s assertion that, “I’d probably have had a better chance prosecuting the President of the United States than an athlete.”

According to the New York Post, the three-time NBA All-Star’s legal team countered his accuser’s “limited resources” claim for not paying the $70,000, pointing to testimony during the civil trial from an expert witness for the plaintiff who cited the woman’s “abundant resources,” which reportedly include a house and a Cadillac, as reason the civil trial was not brought forth purely for financial gain.

Then, Rose’s lawyers took aim at his accuser’s claims that a) a $70,000 award would prevent future rape victims from coming forward and b) the jury ruled in his favor because he was famous. His legal team argued the woman’s “aggressive pursuit of false claims in this Court and in the media have taken an enormous, costly, and irreparable toll on Mr. Rose and his public image and reputation.”

In late September, the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed its criminal investigation into the alleged rape, and that case remains open presently. “There has been no determination by the district attorney here as to whether it will proceed,” an LAPD spokesman told the New York Post this week.

The pursuance of $70,000 from a woman the three men testified to having group sex with may feel coldhearted to some. This was also the sense when the judge joked to Rose in court after the trial, “Best wishes, except when the Knicks play the Lakers,” and Rose then posed with jurors afterwards:

On the other hand, it appears Rose is attempting to win back those in the court of public opinion who may have ruled against him well before the end of his civil trial. We also cannot presume to know the financial fallout for Allen and Hampton as a result of the court costs. According to spotrac, the 28-year-old Rose has earned $94.2 million in his career and will make another $21.3 million this year.

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Ben Rohrbach is a contributor for Ball Don’t Lie and Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @brohrbach