Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott filed a lawsuit in Collin County, Texas, on Monday against a woman and her attorneys for an alleged extortion attempt.
Prescott received a letter in January from attorneys Bethel and Yoel Zehaie on behalf of a woman accusing the Cowboys quarterback of sexually assaulting her in February 2017.
According to the lawsuit filed Monday by Prescott, the letter stated that, “Despite the tragic events, she is willing to forego [sic] pursuing criminal charges, along with disclosing this information to the public, in exchange for compensating her for the mental anguish she has suffered. [Her] damages are valued at the sum of $100,000,000.00.”
Per the lawsuit, Prescott is seeking monetary relief in excess of $1 million and plans to donate any sum won in the lawsuit to the Joyful Heart Foundation, or any “like-minded organization.”
The Joyful Heart Foundation is an organization whose mission is to ”transform society’s response to sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse, support survivors’ healing, and end this violence forever,” according to its website.
Prescott’s lawyer, Levi McCathern, released a statement condemning the allegations against the Cowboys quarterback.
“Mr. Prescott – a new father to a baby girl – has great empathy for survivors of sexual assault,” McCathern said. “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. Lies hurt. Especially malicious lies. We will not allow the defendant and her legal team to profit from this attempt to extort millions from Mr. Prescott.”
Zehaie, one of the two lawyers for the woman, issued a statement to ESPN on Tuesday saying Prescott acknowledged being with the woman the night of the alleged assault.
“We stand by the truth. Dak and his lawyers are trying to be bullies and play hardball and victim blame. We are not afraid of the truth. Dak needs to be held accountable for his behavior. We are not afraid of him or his legal team.”
