Three new lawsuits accusing Deshaun Watson of sexual assault and inappropriate conduct were filed Sunday night, including one that claims the Houston Texans quarterback is deleting Instagram messages and contacting the women “who formally provided him massages, in an attempt to settle” those cases.
According to his lawyer, Rusty Hardin, the Texans quarterback hasn’t deleted any Instagram messages since the start of the litigation.
“Like a lot of people, Deshaun regularly deletes past Instagram messages.,” Hardin said in a statement Monday. “That said, he has not deleted any messages since March 15th, the day before the first lawsuit was filed. We categorically deny that he has reached out directly to his accusers in an attempt to settle these cases.”
Hardin has previously complained about the anonymity of the “Jane Does,” the alleged victims who have accused Watson.
“Opposing counsel’s continued statements that these cases aren’t about money do not square with the facts in at least two of these cases,” Hardin stated. “It is incredibly irresponsible to continue to make these types of false allegations in this avalanche of anonymous lawsuits, particularly while we are still trying to find out who the accusers are. We will address these issues, and others raised in these cases, in our formal response to the court in the coming weeks.”
The three new lawsuits, which were available Monday morning on the Harris County District Clerk’s website, bring the total number of lawsuits filed against Watson to 19.
Watson has publicly denied any wrongdoing, and Hardin said last week that he believes “any allegation that Deshaun forced a woman to commit a sexual act is completely false.”
