DALLAS — Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott has filed a civil lawsuit — and also filed a criminal report — against a woman who has accused him of sexual assault and demanded $100 million in exchange for not reporting the alleged incident to police.
Prescott filed his suit against the woman and her lawyers on Monday. Police in Prosper confirm to WFAA that it received a reported Attempted Theft by Coercion filing on Monday as well.
In a press release detailing the suit they filed on their client’s behalf, Prescott’s lawyers say the All-Pro quarterback is the victim of an “extortion plot” and deny the allegations that he sexually assaulted the woman in question, calling it “a completely fabricated story.”
In the alleged letter sent to Prescott’s legal team and included in Monday’s court filings, the woman’s legal team alleged that Prescott sexually assaulted their client on or about Feb. 2, 2017, after the end of Prescott’s rookie NFL season.
“Mr. Prescott — a new father to a baby girl — has great empathy for survivors of sexual assault,” the press release from Prescott’s legal team reads. “He fervently believes that all perpetrators of such crimes should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. To be clear, Mr. Prescott has never engaged in any nonconsensual sexual conduct with anyone.”
The letter states that the woman and Prescott became acquainted through her job, and that he invited her to hang out after talking on Snapchat. When the two eventually met up, the letter states Prescott picked the woman up in Plano while accompanied by “two members of [his] entourage” and “a couple additional female friends.”
At some point, the letter included in the filing states, the group allegedly entered a black SUV, and Prescott directed the woman to the back of the vehicle. At that point, the letter alleges, Prescott exposed his genitals.
The letter states that the woman at that point allegedly told Prescott she “did not want to engage in sexual intercourse and made sure to verbalize her wishes.”
The letter further alleges that, upon reaching its destination, the SUV came to a stop and everyone got out of the car except for the woman and Prescott, who allegedly “signaled to one of [his] entourage members to leave” him alone with the woman.
“At this point,” the letter alleges, “you used physical force and sexually assaulted [the woman] by penetrating her vagina against her consent.”
The letter states the woman has had to live with this pain and trauma for the past seven years, and that the mental anguish she has suffered has affected her relationship with her fiancé and “her everyday existence so much that she had to attend therapy and counseling and will require future therapy and counseling.”
The letter then continues: “Despite the tragic events, she is willing to forego pursuing criminal charges, along with disclosing this information to the public, in exchange for compensating her for the mental anguish she has suffered.”
The letter concludes by asking Prescott to pay $100 million to the woman.
Levin McCathern, Prescott’s attorney, confirmed in an interview with WFAA that Prescott had a relationship with the woman, but denies doing the things she alleges.
“She was a waitress at a bar he frequented,” McCathern said. “She came out one night with a group of friends and met Mr. Prescott and then spent an evening where they went numerous locations.”
McCathern said Prescott remembers going out with her, but said he didn’t have sex with her.
“He was a single guy at the time, and I would call it a make-out session,” he said.
McCathern said Prescott and the woman did have interactions for a few years, and they would have amicable interactions when they would see each other.
“This completely came out of the blue,” he said. “He didn’t remember at first who this was. He had to dig it up, but he said ‘oh yes, I remember her.'”
Another attorney representing Prescott, Jennifer Falk, is a former prosecutor who handled sexual assault cases for nearly 18 years.
“I come into every case with kind of that lens to believe her, because that is what we should be doing socially,” Falk said. “But the moment I was brought into this case and the moment I read the demand letter, it gave me great concern.”
Falk said these types of cases, which she called an extortion attempt on a high-profile local kind of hero in the community, undermine the progressive society has made to believe victims.
In the suit filed against the woman, Prescott’s legal team accuses the woman and her legal team of a “blatant attempt” to extort Prescott by weaponizing “patently false, yet heinous sexual assault allegations with no basis in reality.”
“Defendants’ horrible lies not only threaten to destroy the legitimate legacy of a great man and cost him tens of millions of dollars, but Defendants’ conduct is criminal,” the suit argues. “Further, Mr. Prescott is forced to file the instant case to bring the truth to light, defend his new family, and promote our society’s collective progress in support of legitimate survivors of sexual assault.”
The suit states that Prescott’s lawyers reached out to the woman’s lawyers, Bethel Zehaie and Yoel Zehai, who the suit says confirmed on a phone call that civil causes of action for the case have expired, and that “the sole reason for their demand of on hundred million dollars from Mr. Prescott was to forego criminal charges and for not making the alleged ‘assault’ public.”
Charges listed against the woman and attorney in the suit include defamation and slander, civil extortion/duress, business disparagement, civil conspiracy and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The suit also asks for a trial by jury.
“Indeed, the Defendant’s false claims undermine the courage of actual sexual assault survivors everywhere, as well as the legitimacy of the horrific traumas they have endured,” the press release states.
The press release concludes by stating Prescott is committed to donating any and all recovery obtained through the lawsuit filed to the Joyful Heart Foundation, a nonprofit which helps survivors of sexual assault.
Prescott is in the midst of offseason contract negotiations with the Cowboys that have yet to really take off. Prescott is entering into the final year of his four-year, $160 million contract that he signed in the offseason in 2021. If the Cowboys do not restructure his contract this offseason, Prescott would count $59.5 million against the Cowboys salary cap.
WFAA has reached out to the attorneys representing the woman for comment.