A lawyer in Texas has filed 12 separate civil lawsuits that are all alleging sexual misconduct against Deshaun Watson.
The lawsuits were filed by Houston attorney Tony Buzbee, who has entered them into court on behalf of multiple clients all claiming that Watson committed at least one act of sexual misconduct or assault against them. The suits are all similar in nature: In each case, Watson is accused of acting inappropriately after hiring a female to give him a private massage.
After Watson was hit with his third lawsuit, which came on March 18, the NFL confirmed to CBSSports.com that the league has opened an investigation against the Texans quarterback to see if he violated the NFL’s personal conduct policy.
Here are the latest details on the allegations (Warning, there are some graphic details):
Lawsuit one
The allegations in the first lawsuit took place on March 30, 2020 at the home of the masseuse. In this lawsuit, which you can read here, the central allegation is that “Watson assaulted the Plaintiff by touching her with his penis.” According to the lawsuit, Watson allegedly reached out to a masseuse on Instagram and asked if she would be willing to give him a massage. Before the two agreed on anything, Watson allegedly asked the woman if the “focus” of the massage could be “on his groin area.”
The woman claims that about 25 minutes into the session it became clear that “Watson wanted a massage for only one reason — sex.”
Eventually, the woman started crying and before she was able to get Watson to leave, he allegedly said “I know you have a career and reputation, and I know you would hate for someone to mess with yours, just like I don’t want anyone messing with mine.”
The woman took that as a threat that Watson might try to ruin her career if she said anything.
Lawsuit two
The second lawsuit involves an incident that allegedly took place on Aug. 28, 2020. Like the first lawsuit, Watson is accused of reaching out to a masseuse on Instagram. In this lawsuit, Watson is accused of exposing himself and inappropriately touching the woman. In this case, the woman was from Atlanta and Watson allegedly flew her to Houston where she was supposed to give him a massage at a local hotel.
Before the day of the appointment, Watson allegedly asked the masseuse if she would be willing to work on his “glutes” and “groin” area. According to the woman, Watson got completely nude prior to the massage. After that happened, the woman pointed out that he should be wearing at least a towel, but Watson allegedly refused to put one on. Once the woman realized Watson wanted more than a massage, she left the hotel room.
According to the lawsuit, Watson’s behavior is viewed as “part of a disturbing pattern of preying on vulnerable women.”
Lawsuit three
The third lawsuit involves a situation that allegedly took place on Dec. 28, 2020. Once again, Watson is accused of setting up a massage appointment by using the messaging function on Instagram to contact a relatively unknown masseuse. In this case, the quarterback allegedly set up an appointment that was to he held at a Houston-area office building.
According to this lawsuit, Watson actually forced the woman “to perform oral sex on him.” According to ESPN.com, the woman wrote in the lawsuit that she felt “intimidated and threatened” and that “she was afraid of what someone like Watson could do if she did not submit to his demands.”
Subsequent lawsuits
After the first three lawsuits came out, Buzbee said there would be more and he wasn’t exaggerating. The Texas lawyer filed four more lawsuits on March 19. In the fourth lawsuit that was filed, Watson is accused of sexually assaulting one woman two times. The first incident allegedly occurred in September 2020 and the second assault allegedly took place in October 2020.
Watson was also hit with five more lawsuits on Monday, bringing the total to 12. According one of the lawsuits that was filed Monday and obtained by ESPN, Watson is accused of sexually assaulting a female massage therapist in just weeks ago by “touching her with his penis and exposing himself.”
On March 19, Buzbee said that he has been talking to 10 other women about a possible lawsuit against Watson, which would bring the total to 22.
Watson’s response
After Buzbee publicly announced that the first lawsuit would be filed, Watson immediately issued a statement on Twitter where he denied all the allegations against him.
“As a result of a social media post by a publicity-seeking plaintiff’s lawyer, I recently became aware of a lawsuit that has apparently been filed against me,” Watson wrote. “I have not yet seen the complaint, but I know this: I have never treated any woman with anything other than the utmost respect. The plaintiff’s lawyer claims that this isn’t about money, but before filing suit he made a baseless six-figure settlement demand, which I quickly rejected. Unlike him, this isn’t about money for me — it’s about clearing my name, and I look forward to doing that.”
Watson released that statement on March 16 after the first lawsuit came out, but hasn’t commented on the situation since the release of the second and third lawsuits.
Reaction from the Texans
It seems the Texans found out about the first lawsuit on March 16, and after the allegations came out, the team quickly released a statement.
“We became aware of a civil lawsuit involving Deshaun Watson through a social media post [on Tuesday night],” the team said. “This is the first time we heard of the matter, and we hope to learn more soon. We take accusations of this nature that involve anyone within the Houston Texans organization seriously. We will await further information before making any additional statements on this incident.”
NFL is now investigating
Buzbee shared a letter on March 18 that came from NFL senior vice president Lisa Friel, who runs the league’s special counsel for investigations.
“I became aware of the lawsuits you filed [March 17], as well as the one you filed this morning, which contain various allegations of misconduct by Houston Texans player Deshaun Watson,” Friel wrote in a letter that was posted to Instagram by Buzbee (The post has since been deleted). “I am writing to let you know that the League has opened an investigation into these allegations and to request the cooperation of your clients in our investigation. Such cooperation would begin with engaging in Zoom interviews with myself and another League investigator at which, of course, you would be present. Please let me know at your earliest convenience if your clients are willing to assist us with our investigation of their allegations.”
The Texans have said that they will be staying in “close contact” with the league over the course of the investigation.
With the league now investigating, there’s a chance that Watson could be hit with a punishment if the NFL finds that there’s any merit to the allegations. With an ongoing NFL investigation, it might also become more difficult for the Texans to trade their star quarterback as other teams might want to see how the investigation plays out before making a deal for the 25-year-old.
Possible police involvement
Although Watson isn’t currently facing any criminal charges, that could change. Buzbee claimed on March 19 that police in Houston have reached out to him to find out about any possible crimes that have been committed. However, Houston police say they are “unaware” of any contact between the department and Buzbee. Although it’s not clear if contact has been made, Buzbee said he plans to cooperate with authorities and he also said during Friday’s press conference that he plans to put a packet together for police that will detail each incident. The lawyer also added that filing a police report will be part of his “next step.”
Even though it doesn’t appear that the police are involved yet, Buzbee has said that he would like to see a grand jury convened so that it can look at the evidence and decide whether Watson should be charged.