Zion Williamson has been accused of rape in addition to "sexual, physical, emotional and financial" abuse over the span of a relationship lasting from 2018 to 2023, according to a lawsuit.
The court filing details two alleged incidents of rape in 2020, the first taking place that September in Beverly Hills, California. According to the complaint, the woman told Williamson "she was tired and wanted to go to sleep" but Williamson told her she could not go to sleep without having sex with him. He then allegedly pinned her down with her hands behind her back and raped her. The filing added that Williamson threw the woman's phone across the room afterward and choked her.
A second rape allegedly occurred in October 2020, also in Beverly Hills. The woman says she was "violently raped" after expressing plans to visit a friend in San Diego. In both instances, the woman accused Williamson of taking her phone for "a period of time."
The lawsuit accuses Williamson of "threatening to kill" the woman and her family members multiple times. The woman is seeking monetary damages with a source telling ESPN she is seeking "anywhere from $18 million to $50 million."
"We take these allegations with the utmost seriousness, and we unequivocally deny them," Williamson's attorneys at Barrasso Usdin Kupperman Freeman & Sarver LLC said in a statement. "The allegations contained in the complaint are categorically false and reckless. ... This appears to be an attempt to exploit a professional athlete driven by a financial motive rather than any legitimate grievance."
The woman's attorney, Sam Taylor II, who is with the Lanier Law Firm in Los Angeles, said they would be "very cautious about litigating this in the press."
Williamson's contract for the 25-26 season becomes guaranteed on July 15th.
