A woman accused Pelicans forward Zion Williamson of sexual abuse including rape in a civil complaint filed Thursday night in Los Angeles.
The plaintiff, identified as only Jane Doe from Seattle, says the NBA player committed “sexual, physical, emotional, and financial” abuse against her during their relationship, which spanned from 2018 while Williamson was at Duke until June 2023. The complaint says the initial incidents happened in Louisiana and continued in other states.
Williamson’s lawyer denied the allegations in a statement and said that he had “reported the plaintiff’s extortion attempts to law enforcement.”
The 12-page filing details an incident in September 2020 when Williamson rented a home in Beverly Hills for training. According to the complaint, the woman told Williamson she was tired and wanted to go to bed, after which he called her “‘stuck up’ and a ‘bitch’ and told her that she could not go to sleep without having sex with him.” The woman told Williamson “no,” the complaint reads, but he pinned her “down on the bed with her hands behind her back and raped her.” After this, Williamson threw the woman’s phone across the room, choked her, “yelled at her for ‘talking too much,’” and didn’t give the phone back for “a period of time,” the complaint says.
The complaint also says Williamson raped the woman in October 2020 because he was “very angry” she was thinking about going to San Diego to see a friend. Williamson “threw things in the home,” then pinned her to the ground and “violently raped” her “in multiple ways,” the filing says. Again, the complaint says Williamson took away her phone and laptop after the incident.
Following detailed accounts of those two 2020 incidents, the complaint lists two pages of other claims against Williamson that include multiple instances each of “suffocating and/or smothering,” “violently striking” the woman with his hands, “violently kicking” her, “confining” her after assaults, threatening to have his security guard shoot her in the head and kill her parents at their home, causing injury by throwing objects at her or throwing her body, taking away her phone, laptop, and car keys, filming her without her consent, and threatening her with revenge porn when she said she wanted to leave the relationship.
Other allegations include beating, raping, and strangling her in Louisiana in 2022, pointing a loaded gun at her head, slamming a car door into her head so hard it made her pass out, entering her apartment unannounced to steal her belongings and abuse her, tracking her location, and following her home from work or sending others to follow her. The complaint alludes to even more allegations by hinting at “other acts of criminal violence that will be shown at trial.”
The filing alleges Williamson was drunk or had taken cocaine during many of the alleged incidents.
In a statement, Williamson’s lawyer, Michael Balascio, said his client was innocent and was being extorted.
“We take these allegations with the utmost seriousness, and we unequivocally deny them,” Balascio wrote. “This appears to be an attempt to exploit a professional athlete driven by a financial motive rather than any legitimate grievance.”
Balascio said Williamson and Jane Doe never dated and had a “consensual, casual relationship.”
“Mr. Williamson reported the plaintiff’s extortion attempts to law enforcement,” he added. “We understand that an arrest warrant was issued in connection with that report, and we are prepared to provide the court with documentation that supports these facts.” The statement said Williamson plans to countersue the woman.
Balascio did not immediately answer questions about which law enforcement body Williamson filed a report with.
Spokespeople for the Pelicans, NBA, and Duke did not comment. Williamson signed a five-year, $193 million extension with the Pelicans in 2022 that contains an unusual caveat: The final three seasons, including 2025–26, are not guaranteed. He played in only 30 games last year, meaning that at least 80% of his contract is not guaranteed until July 15.
The complaint brings nine causes of action against Williamson: assault, battery, sexual battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, domestic violence, stalking, burglary, false imprisonment, and conversion. The woman is seeking unspecified damages.
“We and our client do not want to litigate this case in the press,” Doe’s attorney Mark Lanier said in a statement to Front Office Sports. “However, I will say this is a very serious case as reflected in the Complaint filed in Los Angeles County. Our client looks forward to her day in court before a jury of her peers to obtain justice in this matter.”
This story has been updated with a statement from Williamson’s attorney.
