Shannon Sharpe’s attorney, Lanny J. Davis, recently discussed why the former Hall of Famer proposed a $10 million settlement to his rape accuser.
Davis clarified that the substantial offer was not an admission of guilt, but rather an attempt to prevent any public humiliation.
He says:
“In fact, Mr. Sharpe decided to pay the substantial blackmail money demanded by the [plaintiff] for the same reason why many many other innocent people subject to a blackmail threat decide, usually painfully, to pay the blackmailer for the same reasons [as] Mr. Sharpe, having absolutely nothing to do with any admission of wrongdoing: In Mr. Sharpe’s case as in the case of virtually all other similar subjects of blackmail, the reason [was] primarily to avoid public embarrassment for himself and his family and other adverse consequences to his life and reputation.”
Davis reiterated Shannon Sharpe’s innocence and emphasized that the relationship between Sharpe and the plaintiff was consensual. He also requested that the plaintiff allow an independent expert to review a purported sex tape.
Per Davis:
“Mr. Sharpe denied the lie that he did anything other than engage in consensual sex and that the tape secretly recorded by [the plaintiff] was incomplete, contained deletions or edits, to mislead the viewer into a conclusion that the sexual encounter was non-consensual…my challenge to [the plaintiff] and her attorney that if they claim there was no such deletions or editing of her secretly recorded tape, then she should give her attorney permission to turn it over to a neutral, professional investigator to determine whether or not it was altered in any way.”
Despite the ongoing lawsuit, Shannon Sharpe’s attorney indicated that the former tight end plans to file a countersuit.
