At a press conference at lawyer Tony Buzbeeās office on Tuesday, a woman named Ashley Solis revealed that she is the plaintiff in the first sexual assault lawsuit filed against Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson.
Watson's attorney Rusty Hardin has released emails between Scott Gaffield, the general counsel for Watsonās agency Athletes First and Buzbeeās office regarding a demand of $100,000 to avoid the lawsuit while noting that Solis said she is not ādoing this just for money.ā
Hardinās statement shares an email from Gaffield saying that they ādonāt believe that the alleged facts show that Deshaun did anything wrong with regards to Ms. Solisā while asking āif Ms. Solis wanted to either help us understand the rationale behind the $100k demand or come back with a different figure.ā It also includes Buzbeeās response from February 19.
āWe made a legit demand. You rejected it,ā Buzbee wrote. āWe wonāt be making another or bid against ourselves. We also wonāt be having an extended dialogue about why you think your client did nothing wrong or how you want this to be a ālearningā experience for your āhigh profile athlete,ā as you refer to him. This is Houston, Texas. Perhaps you should find him a lawyer here so you can apprise both you and your client of the landscape here and who you are dealing with. Talk soon.ā
Gaffield prepared a statement that was also included with the release from Hardinās office.
āMy email exchanges with Mr. Buzbee and [Buzbeeās associate] Ms. Brandfield-Harvey were very clear,ā Gaffield wrote. āWe did not think that the facts showed that Deshaun did anything wrong with their client. We believed then ā and fully believe now ā that Deshaun learned a lesson about putting himself in this type of situation by interacting with people he does not know. As the emails show, we were willing to continue discussions on Deshaunās behalf to explore ways to prevent a lawsuit and a public spectacle. But Mr. Buzbee informed us that he was unwilling to do so. We expect that this matter will be resolved in court.ā