The seemingly all-encompassing civil lawsuit that is battering current Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson has just taken on another dimension.
The Houston Texans franchise was added to the defendant’s list for allegedly enabling Watson, where Watson played previously, to commit multiple acts of sexual abuse against a score of female massage therapists, according to the legal documents obtained by CBS Sports.
In the latest filing by lawyer Tony Buzbee, who represents the 24 aggrieved female masseuses, an employee of the Texans allegedly provided Watson with membership to a hotel where many of the massages took place.
Furthermore, Buzbee asserted that someone with the Texans franchise also provided Watson with a nondisclosure agreement that Watson had some of the women sign. Buzbee believes this NDA prevented some of them from speaking about what transpired during the massages nor reporting it to the police.
The latest developments come on the heels of the explosive exposé by the New York Times which stated that Watson actually booked appointments with 66 female masseuses, a much higher number than the approximately 40 women that Watson claimed he interacted with.
“Based on what we have learned from the Houston Police Department, we will soon be joining the Houston Texans organization and others as defendants in the ongoing lawsuits against Deshaun Watson. Our team has thoroughly vetted each case. We are considering many others,” Buzbee stated, according to CBS.
“What has become clear is that the Houston Texans organization and their contradicting ‘massage therapy company’ facilitated Deshaun Watson’s conduct. In many of these cases, the Texans provided the opportunity for this conduct to occur.
“We believe the Texans organization was well aware of Watson’s issues, but failed to act,” Buzbee continued. “We intend to make sure all involved in Watson’s conduct are to be held accountable — including himself.”
Neither the Houston Texans, Cleveland Browns nor the NFL has responded yet to the latest filing by Buzbee.
