The individuals formerly identified as the Central Park Five, who were cleared of charges, initiated a defamation lawsuit against Donald Trump, the Republican candidate for president, on Monday.
With the election just two weeks away, the group claims that Trump made “false and defamatory statements” about them during the recent presidential debate featuring Vice President Kamala Harris.
They are seeking a jury trial to assess both compensatory and punitive damages.

In their federal complaint, the group stated, “Defendant Trump falsely asserted that plaintiffs killed an individual and pleaded guilty to the crime. These statements are demonstrably false.”
There has been no immediate response from Trump’s campaign regarding inquiries about the lawsuit.

The group comprises Yusef Salaam, Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise, who were just teenagers at the time they were wrongfully accused in 1989 of raping and assaulting a white woman who was jogging in Central Park, New York City.
The five, who identify as Black and Latino, have maintained that their confessions were coerced, and they later recanted those statements, declaring their innocence in court.
Their convictions were nullified in 2002 when another individual confessed to the crime.

Following the incident, Trump placed a full-page advertisement in the New York Times advocating for the young men to face the death penalty.
This marked Trump’s entry into hardline crime politics, paving the way for his later populist political image.
His time in the spotlight has been marked by both subtle and overt racial undertones.

During the debate on September 10, Trump misrepresented vital details of the case when Harris brought up the topic.
He stated, “They admitted, they said they pled guilty and I said, ‘Well, if they pled guilty, they badly hurt a person, killed a person ultimately… And they pled guilty, then they pled not guilty.”
This comment indicates a mix-up between confessions and guilty pleas, and importantly, no victim actually died in the case.

Known now as the Exonerated Five, the group is actively backing Harris in her campaign efforts.
Salaam, who has since become a New York City councilman, along with other members of the group, have made appearances at the Democratic National Convention, where they criticized Trump for never issuing an apology regarding the controversial newspaper ad.
In addition, they have teamed up with civil rights advocate Rev. Al Sharpton to partake in a bus tour aimed at encouraging voter turnout.