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Members of the “Central Park Five” sued former President Donald Trump on Monday over “false and defamatory” statements he allegedly made during a presidential debate last month about their 1989 case.

The five men allege in a federal lawsuit that Trump knew he was acting with a “reckless disregard” for the truth when he said during the September debate with Vice President Kamala Harris that they had pleaded guilty to crimes related to the beating and rape of one woman in New York City, and that the five teenagers “severely injured or killed one person” in the attack.

“Defendant Trump’s statements were false and defamatory in many respects,” lawyers for the men, now all in their 50s, wrote in the lawsuit filed in federal court in Philadelphia. “Plaintiffs have never pleaded guilty to the Central Park attacks. All plaintiffs pleaded not guilty and maintained their innocence throughout the trial and incarceration and after their release from prison.”

“None of the victims of the Central Park attacks were killed,” wrote attorneys for Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron Brown and Korey Wise.

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung called the lawsuit “just another frivolous election interference lawsuit” that he said was filed to “distract the American people from Kamala Harris’ dangerously liberal agenda and failed campaign.”

The men are seeking compensatory and punitive damages. The lawsuit also alleges that Trump’s comments portrayed them in a false light and caused them “severe emotional distress.”

In the case, the group was pressured to make false confessions. They were exonerated in 2002 when DNA evidence linked another person to the crime. The teens sued the city and the case was settled in 2014.

Trump has long been outspoken about the case, which rocked New York in the late 1980s when he was a leading figure in the city’s real estate and celebrity scenes. At that time, Trump took out full-page ads in several New York newspapers that read in all caps: “Bring back the death penalty.” Bring back our police!”

His comments last month were in response to Harris bringing up the ad during part of the debate over race and politics in the US.

“Let us remember that this is the same person who took out a full-page ad in the New York Times calling for the execution of five innocent black and Latino boys, the Central Park Five,” Harris said. “Put out a full-page ad calling for her execution.”

One of the ads purchased by Trump was included as evidence in the lawsuit.

The former president has tried to project a tough-on-crime persona during his three White House runs, and the debate comments highlighted his willingness to invoke racially and politically motivated crime cases in U.S. history.

Trump has continued to be critical of the case as he forayed into politics in recent years. In October 2016, then-candidate Trump stood by his actions during the case, telling CNN: “They admitted they were guilty.”

And in 2014, Trump wrote in an editorial in the New York Daily News that New York City’s $41 million settlement with the five men was “a disgrace.”

This story has been updated with additional details.

CNN’s Kate Sullivan contributed to this report.