Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott (4) throws a pass against the Green Bay Packers during an NFL wild-card playoff football game, Sunday, Jan. 14, 2024 in Arlington, Texas. (Paul Jasienski via AP)
A woman in Texas has been sued in civil court by Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott after the famous football star claimed the defendant and her lawyers are attempting to extort him with false accusations that he sexually assaulted her six years ago.
The 14-page complaint, filed in Collin County, Texas, against resident Victoria Baileigh Shores and her attorneys Bethel Zehaie and Yoel Zehaie slams a letter they sent to him in January.
In the letter, which is attached to the civil lawsuit filed Monday, Shores alleged that she and Prescott became acquainted through the social media app Snapchat and that he “invited her to hang out” in February 2017 along with members of his “entourage” and a few other “additional female friends.”
Shores said it was during this encounter that Prescott first got into a black SUV with her and other members of his crew.
Then, her attorneys wrote on Jan. 16:
You directed Ms. Shores to the further back row so you could all head to [redacted]. On the ride to [redacted], you exposed your genitalia. Ms. Shores did not want to engage in sexual intercourse and made sure to verbalize these wishes.
Afterwards, the car came to a stop at your destination. Once this occurred, everyone got out the car except you, and you further signaled to one of your entourage members to leave you and Ms. Shores alone.
It was at this point that Shores alleges Prescott “used physical force and sexually assaulted her … by penetrating her vagina against her consent.”
While Shores says this has caused her has years of mental anguish, Prescott’s lawyer contends the allegations are nothing more than an extortion and defamation scheme by Shores and her attorneys that seeks to drain their client of $100 million “at the height of Mr. Prescott’s success.”
“This case arises out of a blatant attempt by Victoria Shores and her legal team to extort Plaintiff Dak Prescott by weaponizing patently false, yet heinous sexual assault allegations with no basis in reality,” the lawsuit states.
“Defendants and her legal team have unleashed a campaign of extortion and defamation, threatening to go public with a completely fabricated story of sexual assault from nearly a decade ago and demanding that Mr. Prescott immediately pay $100,000,000, in exchange for her silence. 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,” wrote attorney Levi McCathern II.
Prescott said he has reported Shores and her lawyers to the “appropriate authorities.”
“To be clear, Mr. Prescott has never engaged in any nonconsensual behavior with anyone,” McCathern wrote Monday.
At the time of the alleged assault in 2017, Prescott was at the “end of [his] rookie season … single, and in fact, the timeline of events and Defendant Shores’ actions in the seven years since the alleged assault are consistent with being involved with only consensual actions with Mr. Prescott.” [Emphasis original]
Dallas NBC affiliate KXAS reported Monday that Shores’ lawyers responded sharply, calling Prescott a “liar and a rapist” and saying that he had met Shores outside of the XTC Cabaret in Dallas. She was not employed there, her attorneys said.
Prescott’s lawyers say after the quarterback received the letter from Bethel Zehaie and Yoel Zehaie, he had his attorneys call them, believing that “surely” they were not engaging in a blatant extortion scheme. But once on that call, McCathern said the motive was revealed: Shores’ attorneys allegedly told him that they knew all civil avenues had expired. They threatened to go public with the sexual assault story and forgo criminal charges altogether, however, if he paid up.
Meanwhile, Bethel Zehaie claims that Prescott said he knew Shores and that he was “with her the same night she was sexually assaulted” and that at no time prior to this lawsuit had he denied this incident.
“The lawsuit is frivolous and is filed as a bully tactic. Levi McCathern is using the typical victim blaming and victim shaming techniques. We stand on the truth that my client was sexually assaulted by Dak Prescott. We are not afraid of Dak or his legal team. We will be fighting back,” Bethel Zahaie told Law&Crime in an email Tuesday.
Denying any and all wrongdoing, Prescott’s lawsuit notes that he is “committed to donating any and all recovery obtained as a result of this lawsuit to the Joyful Heart Foundation, whose vision is a world free of sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse.”
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