Adapted from a story by The Washington Post’s Will Hobson and Mark Maske.
Brown denied the allegations through his attorney, who said that Brown had a “consensual personal relationship” with the woman and previously declined her request for a $1.6 million business investment.
“Mr. Brown … refuses to be the victim of what he believes to be a money grab,” wrote Brown’s attorney, Darren Heitner.
“We are aware of the civil lawsuit that was filed earlier today against Antonio Brown, as well as the response by Antonio’s representatives,” the Patriots said in a statement late Tuesday night. “We take these allegations very seriously. ... The league has informed us that they will be investigating. We will have no further comment while that investigation takes place.”
The woman — Britney Taylor, a 28-year-old gymnast — met Brown in 2010 at Central Michigan University, according to the lawsuit, when he was a senior and she was a freshman. They were in the same Christian students group, the lawsuit states, and were paired together as Bible study partners. (The Washington Post does not typically name alleged victims of sex crimes, but Taylor publicly circulated her name in the lawsuit and in a statement released Tuesday by her attorney, David Haas.)
They reconnected in 2017, according to the lawsuit, when Brown reached out via social media, requesting Taylor work with him as a personal trainer.
After they met at Central Michigan, Brown left for the NFL, and Taylor transferred to LSU. In 2013, according to the lawsuit, Brown — then a wide receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers — contacted her via social media and tried to solicit a “revealing” photo. She refused, and they didn’t communicate again until 2017, when Brown contacted Taylor via Facebook, according to the complaint, and asked her if she would help train him. She agreed and began periodically flying to Pittsburgh or Miami to work with Brown, according to the lawsuit.
During one of these trips to Pittsburgh in 2017, according to Taylor’s lawsuit, Brown exposed his penis, then grabbed Taylor and kissed her against her will. She pushed him away, the lawsuit states, and fled the room.
A few weeks later, according to the complaint, another assault occurred at the wide receiver’s home in Miami. Taylor was watching a church service on her iPad, the complaint states, when Brown stood behind her, masturbated and ejaculated on her. The lawsuit attached a vulgar text message, purportedly from Brown, in which the sender of the text message makes reference to an act matching what Taylor described.
Taylor ceased communicating with Brown after this incident, according to the lawsuit, until he reached back out to her in 2018, apologized and requested they resume working together. Taylor agreed, according to the suit, after getting Brown to agree in writing to “stop flirting with her anymore.”
On the night of May 20, 2018, according to the suit, Taylor joined Brown, another unidentified football player and a few friends for a night at a club in Miami. At the end of the night, she drove Brown back to his home and, according to the suit, he pulled her into his bedroom as she was attempting to leave and return to her hotel. Brown forced her onto the bed, the suit states, and raped her, despite her cries of “no” and “stop.”
The lawsuit makes no reference to Taylor contacting police to file complaints against Brown for any of the three alleged incidents.
“Deciding to speak out has been an incredibly difficult decision,” Taylor said. “I have found strength in my faith, my family and from the accounts of other survivors of sexual assault.”
In Brown’s statement, he said Taylor approached him in 2017, shortly after he signed a new contract with the Steelers paying him $17 million per year, at the time making him the highest-paid wide receiver in the NFL. Taylor requested a $1.6 million investment in a “business project” according to Brown, and he declined.
In 2018, according to Brown, Taylor reached back out to him and offered to help him train, and they began a consensual sexual relationship.
“Any sexual interaction with Mr. Brown was entirely consensual,” wrote Heitner, his attorney.
Brown could be subject to disciplinary action by the league under its personal conduct policy. The NFL generally waits until a legal case has been resolved in court before deciding whether to impose a suspension without pay under that policy. A player does not have to be charged with or convicted of a crime to be punished under the policy if the league believes after an investigation that discipline is warranted. The league also can place a player on paid leave on the commissioner’s exempt list during the legal proceedings.
The Patriots officially announced their signing of Brown on Tuesday. He agreed to a one-year contract, worth as much as $15 million, on Saturday, hours after being released by the Oakland Raiders after a short but tumultuous stay with the team that ended when he requested his release via social media.
