Antonio Brown allegedly exploited Christian rape accuser’s faith but wide receiver says she's no saint
A woman who alleges in a lawsuit that New England Patriots wide receiver Antonio Brown sexually assaulted her on three separate occasions including a rape that left her traumatized and another encounter in which Brown assaulted her as she watched a sermon, said he exploited her faith after they first met at a Bible study.
Brown, in a statement through his lawyer, denied the allegations and said his accuser, Britney Taylor, a personal trainer and former gymnast, is no saint but someone looking for a “money grab.” He maintains that she was a consensual participant in a sexual relationship and indulged in adult entertainment.
“Mr. Brown denies each and every allegation in the lawsuit. He will pursue all legal remedies to not only clear his name, but to also protect other professional athletes against false accusations,” his lawyer said in a statement Tuesday.
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Taylor alleges in the lawsuit that Brown 31, sexually assaulted her twice in June 2017 and then escalated his advances to rape in May 2018 years after meeting him at a Fellowship of Christian Athletes Bible study at Central Michigan University in 2010.
“In 2010, Ms. Taylor started her freshman year at Central Michigan University. Ms. Taylor joined the college’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes group. During her first meeting, she was paired with Antonio Brown as his Bible study partner,” the lawsuit says.
She alleges in her lawsuit that Brown exploited her religious devotion by presenting himself as Christian, causing her to trust in a relationship she believed to be “that of a ‘brother-sister’ type.”
“Brown preyed on Ms. Taylor’s kindness and her religious devotion, casting himself as a person equally dedicated to his religious faith and someone she could trust. In reality, he used manipulation and false promises to lure her into his world, and once there, he sexually assaulted and raped her. These heinous acts have inflicted severe and dramatic damage on Ms. Taylor, irreparably harming her,” says the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges that the breakdown of the supposed Christian relationship between Brown and Taylor, 28, began in June 2017 after Brown reached out to her on social media and they reconnected. Taylor had opened a gymnastics training center for predominantly African-American girls in her hometown of Memphis in 2016, and Brown invited her to provide him with physical training services.
The same month she began providing him with business services, Taylor alleges, she was assaulted twice.
“In June 2017, Brown sexually assaulted Ms. Taylor twice while they were together for training sessions. First, Brown exposed himself and kissed Ms. Taylor without her consent. Later that month, Brown, while positioned behind Ms. Taylor, began masturbating near her without her knowledge and ejaculated on her back. Ms. Taylor realized what occurred when she felt a wet spot soak through her clothing. Later, in astonishingly profane and angry text messages, Brown bragged about the incident to her,” the lawsuit says.
During the masturbation incident, the lawsuit explains that Brown and Taylor were “watching a church service on Ms. Taylor’s iPad in Brown’s home in Miami, Florida.”
“As they had during their college Christian fellowship days, they often read scriptures, prayed or watched services together during training visits. On this occasion, Brown was behind Ms. Taylor as they watched the service on her tablet. Unbeknownst to Ms. Taylor, while she was focused on the religious video, Brown began masturbating behind her. Before she knew it or understood what was happening, Brown ejaculated on her,” the lawsuit explains.
Taylor alleges that she stopped working with Brown after those incidents until months later in April 2018 when he apologized and agreed in writing to “stop flirting with her.” He also agreed to provide her with hotel accommodation for each session.
On approximately May 20, 2018, Taylor alleged that Brown raped her after a night out with friends in Miami.
“While Ms. Taylor was walking toward the front door, Brown grabbed her arm, told her he wanted to talk to her, and pulled her into his bedroom. They chatted for a few minutes, and when Ms. Taylor went to walk out of the room, Brown cornered her and pulled her down on the bed on her stomach, pushing her face down into the mattress,” the lawsuit says.
“She attempted to physically resist, but he pinned her down so that she was unable to fight back. As she struggled, he lifted her dress and told her, ‘you know you want this.’ Ms. Taylor pleaded with him, shouting ‘no’ and ‘stop.’ But Brown refused and proceeded with great violence to penetrate her,” it alleges.
Brown’s lawyer Darren Heitner argued, however, that Taylor approached his client in 2017 shortly after he signed a contract making him the highest paid wide receiver in the NFL.
“Mr. Brown was asked to invest $1.6 million in the accuser’s business project. Mr. Brown was not informed by his accuser that she had just been levied with a $30,000 IRS tax lien or that $300,000 of the $1.6 million so-called ‘investment’ was to be used to purchase property already owned by the accuser and her mother,” Heitner said.
When Brown refused the request, Taylor allegedly cut off communication with him and then resurfaced in 2018 when she offered to travel to Pennsylvania and South Florida to train him for the upcoming season.
“Thereafter, the accuser engaged Mr. Brown in a consensual personal relationship. Any sexual interaction with Mr. Brown was entirely consensual,” Heitner said.
“In May 2018, Mr. Brown’s accuser invited herself to join Mr. Brown and his friends, who were patrons at Miami adult entertainment clubs. After several hours of partying, Mr. Brown and his friends called it a night. Instead of leaving by herself, as she had arrived, and returning to her hotel, Mr. Brown’s accuser solicited Mr. Brown to join her and return to Mr. Brown’s residence where the two engaged in consensual sex. Again, Mr. Brown denies all of the accuser’s allegations,” Heitner ended.
