A civil suit filed in the United States accuses the owner of the Edmonton Oilers, Daryl Katz, of paying a teenage ballerina $75,000 in exchange for sexual favors.
The allegations were made in response to a 2021 lawsuit filed by seven aspiring professional ballet dancers against spouses Mitchell Taylor Button and Dusty Button, CBC reported. The Buttons filed a counterclaim stating they had a “loving and supporting” consensual “throuple sexual relationship” with at least one dancer, Sage Humphries, when she was 18-years-old, but furthered that Humphries had allegedly been involved in three prior sexual relationships when she was underage, CBC continued.
One of those prior sexual relationships was reportedly with Katz, CBC noted. The lawsuit intends to hold the three men accountable for any damages, the outlet reported. The language in the lawsuit claims that if a price must be paid, “it should be paid by those who actually engaged in illegal acts with [Humphries],” the outlet noted.
Breaking:
Court filing alledges Edmonton Oilers owner Daryl Katz paid $75,000 to a then underage girl for sex. Katz would have been 53 at the time.
Katz is listed as a 3rd party defendant, and not the main focus of the filing. pic.twitter.com/1sYXqEiBTl
— Benjamin Allbright (@AllbrightNFL) July 21, 2022
“Humphries was literally a child prostitute to a billionaire, and her mother assisted her in laundering the money she was paid and in trafficking her to Katz,” the claim continued, CBC reported. Screenshots of texts were submitted into evidence, one of which was allegedly from Katz where he said one of his “guys” would send Humphries “50K,” CBC continued.
Katz’s attorney, Robert Klieger, has denied all accusations against the billionaire, the New York Post reported. He called the allegations “baseless and scurrilous,” the outlet continued. Katz reportedly sent the money to Humphries as part of their ongoing business deal related to a prospective film project, CBC noted. (RELATED: ‘Pedo Pete’: Massive 4Chan Hack Of Hunter Biden’s Explicit Texts, Images, Videos Rocks The Internet)
Katz and Humphries met twice to discuss the project in 2016 when Humphries was 17, CBC noted. His production company, Silver Pictures, “ultimately decided to pass on the project,” Klieger said, CBC reported. “But during the period of time that the project was under consideration, they asked for some help to keep with the funding of the project to keep it going. And that’s the $75,000 that is at issue.”
Model and “Jane The Virgin” actress Greice Santo accused Katz of offering her “millions” of dollars along with a film role in exchange for sex in the mid-2010s, Variety reported at the time. The situation was eventually resolved after Santo’s husband, professional gambler R.J. Cipriani, sued Katz’s public relations crisis management firm, CBC reported. “There was nothing to that,” Klieger noted, speaking about the mid-2010s case.