Dak Prescott was accused of sexual assault in February of 2017. A woman claimed that Prescott assaulted her in the trunk of a car in the parking lot of a bar where she worked.[1] The claim came after Prescott’s rookie season with the Dallas Cowboys.[2] However, Prescott immediately denied the woman’s allegations and asserted his innocence.
Police working on the case said that the investigation had been closed due to the fact that there was “insufficient evidence” that Prescott had committed the crime.[3] Since the investigation has closed down and charges were dropped, Prescott and his attorneys have filed an extortion lawsuit against the woman.[4] The lawsuit says that the woman told Prescott that she would not press charges or go public about the accusations if he paid her $100 million.[5]
Furthermore, the lawsuit states that the sexual assault case came from a “blatant attempt by [the woman] and her legal team to extort plaintiff Dak Prescott by weaponizing patently false, yet heinous sexual assault allegations with no basis in reality.”[6] According to NBC Dallas-Fort Worth, after Prescott filed the extortion lawsuit, the woman filed a police report that accused Prescott of sexually assaulting her seven years ago.[7]
The woman’s lawyer, Yoel Zehaie, said in an interview that they were not surprised that officials dropped the charges and put a halt to the investigation.[8] Zehaie said that even though criminal charges have been dropped, they still intend to move forward with civil claims against Prescott.[9] The civil suit was filed in Collin County, as a countersuit to Prescott’s extortion suit, Zehaie said.[10]
Zehaie believes that the extortion lawsuit was “a smokescreen to distract from the real topic that should be discussed. And that is that a rape was committed by Dak Prescott.”[11] However, Prescott’s attorney stated that “sexual assault is a despicable crime that no person should ever endure. Defendants’ false claims in this regard undermine the courage of actual sexual assault survivors everywhere as well as the legitimacy of the horrific traumas they have endured.”[12]
While Prescott has avoided criminal liability, the outcome of the civil trial may determine if there is any punishment from the NFL. As we have seen in the past, such as in the case of Deshaun Watson, the NFL is willing to punish players even for only cases resulting in civil liability.
[1] Sexual assault charges against Dak Prescott dropped (spectrumlocalnews.com)
[2] Dallas police won’t pursue sexual assault charges against Cowboys’ quarterback Dak Prescott (nbcnews.com)
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] Id.
[7] Id.
[8] Id.
[9] Id.
[10] Id.
[11] Sexual assault charges against Dak Prescott dropped (spectrumlocalnews.com)
[12] Id.