$50M Shannon Sharpe Rape Lawsuit Ends With Mysterious Settlement

A stunning $50 million rape lawsuit. against former NFL star and sports. commentator Shannon Sharp has come to a. conclusion just days after some civil. court drama out in Las Vegas. We're. taking a look at the latest developments. with celebrity criminal defense attorney. Bradford Cohen. Welcome to Sidebar. presented by Law and Crime. I'm Sierra. Gillespie and today for Jesse Weber, a bombshell announcement in the huge. lawsuit filed by a Jane Doe against. sports commentator and podcaster Shannon.

Sharp. The litigation has come to an end. thanks to an outofc court settlement. Tony Busby, the high-profile and. sometimes controversial attorney who. filed the suit on behalf of Jane Doe, posted an update to Instagram on Friday, saying, quote, "On April 20th, 2025, the. Busby Law Firm filed a complaint in. Nevada, making several allegations. against Shannon Sharp on behalf of our. client." Both sides acknowledge a. long-term, consensual, and tumultuous. relationship. After protracted and.

respectful negotiations, I'm pleased to. announce that we have reached a mutually. agreed upon resolution. All matters have. now been addressed satisfactorily and. the matter is closed. The lawsuit will. thus be dismissed with prejudice. So, here's some of the background regarding. the accusations that Shannon Sharp has. been facing. According to this. complaint, Jane Doe worked out at the. same gym as Sharp did in Los Angeles. She was 19 at the time and she claims he. had been watching her during workouts. and finally introduced himself,

insisting that she give him her number. The filing says Jane Doe found Sharp. physically intimidating. This is a. direct quote. Over the next couple of. weeks, Sharp incessantly pursued. plaintiff. He constantly approached her. at the gym and attempted to contact her. frequently with phone calls and text. messages asking to meet up, unwilling to. take no for an answer. Eventually, Plaintiff gave in and agreed to meet. with Sharp outside of the gym. However, before doing so, Sharp demanded that Doe. sign a non-disclosure agreement or NDA,

something plaintiff found a bit. concerning. She wondered why Sharp was. so insistent on her signing an NDA. She. refused. Despite his repeated efforts to. get her to sign, she refused time and. again. Eventually, he dropped the issue. and invited her to his house. Now, the. lawsuit claims the relationship between. Sharp and Jane Doe more than 30 years. his junior was consensual but rocky. She. says Shannon Sharp insisted they were. exclusive. But then she says she caught. him multiple times lying about his. whereabouts and who he was seeing.

According to the filing, by October. 2024, Sharp's behavior had grown. progressively worse, beyond anything. plaintiff had experienced with him. before. At this point, he was insistent. upon recording their sexual activities, sometimes without her knowledge. Sharp. was also sharing the videos with others. without her permission or knowledge. Sharp would repeatedly tell Do that he. wanted to do to her things that would. make no other man want her. By this. point, Sharp was no longer able to.

credibly maintain that the relationship. was exclusive. He had at this point. accidentally or purposely to advance his. career went live on Instagram while. having sex with another woman. Sharp. flew into fits of anger when plaintiff. noted his infidelity to their. relationship or called him out about his. extraneous activities. What had once. been manipulation, control, and. intimidation now became something far. more dangerous and sinister. Sharp even. figured out how to get into Do's. apartment complex without her. permission. Sharp made it clear that.

what Do wanted was of no moment, that. Sharp would get what he wanted when he. wanted it. In October 2024, Shannon. Sharp violently sexually assaulted an. anally raped plaintiff two different. times in Las Vegas, Nevada, blatantly. ignoring her requests for him to stop. He did it again in January. Jane Doe had. filed under two causes of action. Firstly, assault, sexual assault, battery, and sexual battery, and. secondly, intentional infliction of. emotional distress. Sharp adamantly.

denied all allegations through his. attorney, Lanny Davis, who called the. lawsuit a classic definition of. blackmail, but Sharp did step away from. his duties at ESPN while the litigation. was ongoing. This is a lawn crime legal. alert. Did you know that children are. being diagnosed with serious conditions. like type 2 diabetes and non-alcoholic. fatty liver disease? And research is. potentially linking ultrarocessed foods. to these outcomes. Well, Morgan and. Morgan is stepping in to hold food.

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allegations against me. I plan to return. to ESPN at the start of the NFL. preseason." The former NFL star also. took to Instagram shortly after the. lawsuit became public, posting a now. deleted video where he said he was. considering a lawsuit of his own. >> This is a shakeddown. That video should. actually be 10 minutes or so. Hey Tony, instead of releasing your edit, put the. whole video out. I don't have it or I. would myself. You know what happened and. you're trying to manipulate the media. The encounter in question took place. during the day at her invitation and now.

that appears to be a deliberate setup. What they're getting is sued for. defamation and trying to take me down. My career is all about real talk and. honesty. I know my family and fans know. exactly what this is about. And I'm. going to be out there telling you. whatever I need to say just like I. always do. I love all you guys. Thanks. Now, on July 9th, all the parties had. been scheduled to have a hearing in a. Las Vegas courtroom to go over where the. case stood, but Tony Busby was a. no-show. According to the Nevada media.

outlet KAS, the judge expressed. disappointment that no legal. representation even showed up on behalf. of Jane Doe. Now, that's what was. initially reported in court, but. following this supposed no-show, Busby. came out and said that the defense. actually agreed to postpone that. hearing, meaning it was not supposed to. happen. So that's the reason why he. didn't appear here. And the Daily Mail. reports that Sharp's legal team shared a. statement with them about the. miscommunication. And it reads, quote, "We are apologizing to the court by. letter for wasting the court's time.

There was a mutual agreement among. council to postpone the motion scheduled. for July 9th. As a result, there was no. expectation by our team that her legal. team would appear in person." Now, in. court, Sharp's team requested an. extension of 45 days, meaning that the. next hearing would have been in. September. But then on July 18th, it was. announced that there had been an outofc. court settlement for an undisclosed. amount. But this isn't the only legal. trouble Sharp has been dealing with. There is an ongoing lawsuit against him.

right now in New York, and it was filed. back in 2023 by a woman named Michelle. Evans. She's representing herself in. this litigation and is seeking at least. $14 million in damages for alleged. defamation, liel, slander, intentional. infliction of emotional distress, and. negligent infliction of emotional. distress. Quote, Michelle Evans was. subjected to non-consensual sexual. encounters, which in itself is a deeply. traumatic experience that has resulted. in long-term psychological harm, post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD,

severe anxiety, and depression. The. trauma is exacerbated by public. defamatory statements made by Shannon. Sharp, which have led to public. humiliation, loss of dignity, and a. sense of betrayal. She even provided a. chart showing how Sharp's alleged. actions impacted her. But according to a. sworn affidavit from Sharp, he denies. the allegations that Michelle Evans laid. out against him, saying it was actually. Evans herself who was manipulative and.

threatening and says she was harassing. him via text messages and phone calls. But in the latest filing with the court, Evans says Sharp has continued to speak. ill of her. In the filing, she writes, quote, plaintiff had expressed concern. that defendant was likely to engage in. further defamatory conduct. Unfortunately, that concern has now. materialized. On about April 25th, 2025, Mr. Sharp issued a public statement. widely disseminated online and through. major media outlets that directly names.

Plaintiff and includes several false and. defamatory claims made with actual. malice. These include that plaintiff was. obsessed with him, that plaintiff. manufactured her claims, that plaintiff. attempted to kill her husband to pursue. a relationship with him. Evans. continues, "These statements are. patently false and were crafted with. reckless disregard for the truth. Their. publication has already led to. widespread online harassment, including. people publicly accusing plaintiff of. murder, an escalation that has placed.

her in danger and deepened her emotional. distress. This new publication. constitutes a separate actionable. event." All right, to talk about all of. this, I want to bring on today's guest. It's celebrity criminal defense attorney. Bradford Cohen, who Bradford, I know. you're a friend of Sidebar, a friend of. us, and I know you've been following. this case pretty closely throughout all. of it. So, I got to ask you right away, what is your reaction to this. settlement? Do you think it was the. right call? >> You know, it's and I tell everyone this. on all these cases, there's two roads to.

take and you must not go in the middle. of those two roads. It's either you go. all out war, right, and just take. depositions and crush someone or you. settle before it's even filed. Those are. the two roads here. So, I'm never happy. with someone that settles unless they're. settling for a really good deal that. they settle before discovery, before. they take her deposition, things of that. nature. Because it's like you have to. pick one of those paths. And that was.

the problem I had with Shawn Combmes's. case, right? like settle. Either settle. before the complaint gets filed or don't. settle at all until you take all. discovery and you have everything out. and you're showing everyone why you're. not guilty of whatever they are. associating with you. In Shan Colmes's. case, the complaint comes out and they. settle the same day. That signaled. weakness and that signaled the Southern. District of New York to come on in on. that kind of case. this case, from what. I know about it, from the texts that.

I've seen from different kind of pieces. of evidence that I've seen on the case, this kind of screams that the individual. who was suing Shannon was a willing. participant and all these things. happened. And that's that's what the. evidence shows to me. Now, Tony Busby is. not known for being uh you know, how can. I put this lightly? He's not. >> I don't I'm I'm wondering how am I gonna. put this. He's not known for being uh.

the utmost above board guy. I I don't. know how else to say it, but he's been. caught in some issues in the past by the. court, by defendants. Jay-Z's case got. dismissed. Uh you know, these kind of. things that are going on with the cases. he handles are not always the best for. your reputation. That being said, my. guess is that this was settled for a. very low amount in Shannon Sharp's eyes. and it would have cost him more. It was. just an economic issue to him. So, it.

probably would have cost him more to. litigate this case than it was settled. for. So, my guess is it was settled for. under a million bucks. >> Okay. Multiple things I want to touch on. throughout that. First of all, Tony. Busby, we have to touch on him. But. before I move on, I want to go back to. what you were talking about with P. Diddy. Of course, we're referring to the. Cassie lawsuit that was filed. Then a. day later, as you said, there's suddenly. the settlement and then, of course, we. know what happens after all of that. So, with the Shannon Sharp case, I'm. wondering why there wouldn't have been. the settlement prior to filing because,

correct me if I'm wrong, but his side, his team, his attorneys should have. known that this was coming before it was. filed. >> Yeah, they always do. So Busby generally. his his playbook is he'll send a letter. out saying all these wild accusations. and all these things that he's going to. put in a complaint. Sometimes he. actually sends the complaint that he's. going to file and says, you know, you. have five days to come with up with, you. know, $50 million or whatever his demand. is. And generally at that point,

everyone's like, oh, screw that. I'm not. paying $50 million. And Shannon Sharp. was correct for not settling for. anywhere near there. Like I said, this. is to me a nuisance value case. The. value is in how much economically are. you going to lose and how much. economically are you going to pay a. lawyer to defend the case and make sure. your reputation is whole. So looking at. that, the case was worth somewhere. between a million to two million, maybe. three million in talking about the hit.

to his his reputation and also how much. he would pay a real law firm to handle. that. A real law firm in these type of. cases, and I say a real law firm, I. don't want to insult anyone, but a real. law firm is normally charging anywhere. from, you know, 17 $1,800 bucks an hour. up to $2,200 an hour. And there's. hundreds and hundreds of hours into. cases like this. So you could expect. this case, if it was to go fullboat to a. trial, it's a $5 million case. So you.

start adding those numbers up and seeing. economically where you would be to. settle the matter. But when someone. comes out and says, "I want $50. million." It's such an outrageous amount. that it takes that off the table. If. Busby would have come with a more. reasonable amount, and maybe he did, I. don't know. I all we know is the reports. for 50 million. But if Busby came to the. table and said, "Hey, listen. We're. looking for, you know, five million. bucks." That probably would have been a. different conversation because a good. lawyer would tell Shannon, "Hey, we.

understand this is a total BS case." And. sometimes your ego gets in the way and. different things happen. But this is. strictly an economic like it's just a a. a formula. And you have to think like am. I going to lose a contract for 25. million if this comes out? Am I going to. pay my lawyers two or three million? So. what's that all worth to me? Okay. You. know, she's asking for five, I'll offer. two or three and get this thing taken. care of. And it really is it's like a.

legalized extortion is what these cases. come down to a lot of times. And it also. discounts real victims. And when I say. real victims, I don't want to lessen. anyone's accusations or how they feel. I. know I I get a lot of emails and texts. like, "Oh, you're victim shaming and all. these different things." It really does. discount individuals who have been the. subject of violent violent relationships. of of violent sexual batteries, all. those things that I don't even take. those cases. So all those little things.

that they're making accusations and. Busby is kind of responsible for for. that kind of wave. If we look at the. cases he's had, he's kind of responsible. for that wave of accusations where young. ladies that are 22, 23, 24 that are. dating a 45 or 50 year old suddenly 2, three, four months after the. relationship is over and they're texting. all kinds of crazy stuff and pictures. and and saying crazy things, they come. to the table and they say, "Now I want. to sue you because I felt like you were. grooming me or whatever it is." And and.

I think that discounts a lot of victims. out there and a lot of victim stories. >> Okay. It's interesting to me because I'm. drawing parallels between, for example, prior bad acts. If somebody's been. accused of one thing and then we go to. court, it isn't necessarily relevant. here. And I know that that's I'm just. comparing it to what you're talking. about with Tony Busby. pattern that we. have seen from him where he's filing. similar lawsuits against different. people for multiple different plaintiffs. whatever it may be for similar. allegations and he just keeps coming up.

over and over whether we're talking. Diddy now we're talking Shannon Sharp so. I guess I'm just wondering what are your. opinions on him. >> so I don't like to make fun or judge. other lawyers he's not for me you know I. don't know you know I don't know I I. grew up in a in an age where if you were. a lawyer and you looked at other. lawyers, you had Ben Brathman to look up. to, Jerry Spence, who I don't even know.

if he's ever lost a case. Um, individuals that I had the opportunity, all of the all of the lawyers in the OJ. Simpson case, just lawyers that you had. the opportunity to watch in action, some. I was able to see actually in court, some I was able to meet and mentor me. So, it's a different I guess it's just. different, right? And lawyers always. behave differently. You have lawyers. that are really, really great and you. have lawyers that are not so great and. then you have lawyers in the middle. And.

I think that my dad always used to say, you know, your reputation is like a. brick wall, right? And you're you're. building your reputation from as small. as you can remember, 10 years old up. if. you're lying about what happened in. school or whatever it is that all those. people remember that right as you go. forward in life and brick by brick. you're laying your reputation and it. takes one bad thing to happen that will. destroy a lifetime of reputation. Now in. Busby's case I I have a hard time.

dealing with his reputation and the the. motions that I've seen filed and the. complaints that I've seen filed. I have. a difficult time thinking that that. that's okay. And in his mind, I think he. thinks it's okay. And I'm sure he drives. a nice car, lives in a nice house, takes. nice vacations and all these things, but. at the end of the day, you can't buy. your reputation. So, you cannot doesn't. matter how much money you have, doesn't. h matter. You know, you can give to.

charity, you can do all these things, but at the end of the day, other lawyers. are going to look at you and he might. not care what other lawyers think. I. happen to care about my reputation. because I think that like I said, it's. one of those things that you can't buy. It's one of those things that people. look at you in a way and deal with you. in a way and you do business with people. in a way. And I think that what I've. seen from Tony Busby is not someone that. I would want to get in business with. >> And reputation is something I want to.

talk about, especially in this case. I'm. going to switch now though to talk about. Shannon Sharp in all of this because. he's this major beloved guy. Many fans. he involved in ESPN. People know his. name and now we have allegations like. this that could tarnish your reputation. So, what are your thoughts with Shannon. Sharp? How's his reputation holding up? I mean, is he going back to ESPN? What's. ahead? >> I'm a I'm a big fan of Shannon Sharp. just because I like the way that he. behaves on on camera. I think he's a. funny guy. I had an opportunity to meet.

him once. those type of things. Sometimes I try to take my bias out when. I've met individuals, when I like. individuals, when I know individuals, I. try to take my bias out and look at. cases for what they are. And if there's. an serious accusation and those things. hurt that individual's reputation, I go. deep. I take a look. I see. I read the. motions. I read the things that are. filed. To me, I think Shannon Sharp's. going to be fine. I I think that most. people understand what this case was.

about and how this case came about and. those texts that were sent out by either. Shannon or his legal team, you know, describing certain things and certain. ways that this individual was speaking. and the the different things that that. individual was employed with and just. all those things that you put together. I don't know if he's going to go back to. ESPN. Eventually, maybe, but I think his. reputation itself is not going to be. really that damaged from this case. When. you look when if someone takes the time.

to actually look at the facts. Now, if. he gets another accusation within a. year, that's a different issue. But I. think everyone kind of knew from reading. this complaint and if you even if you. read the articles what kind of case this. was. And it was, you know, to me it was. a illegal extortion case. That's that's. what it came down to. >> And I do want to make sure that our. viewers understand this, too, because he. settled. So, there's a settlement, but. it doesn't mean liability, right? It. isn't him saying, "Yes, I was wrong.

Yes, all of these happened XYZ." I mean, he just settled and that's that. >> Yeah. And I try to explain this to. everybody that that speaks to me and is. and says to me, "Well, this person. settled. They must be guilty of. something." Again, it is an economic a. lot of times it's an economic decision. where you want to get out of court. It's. an amount that you feel you would be. paying anyways to your lawyers. And. there's a couple different versions of. people. There's some people like Jay-Z. that will spend $100 million to make.

sure that that individual understands. you're not you're never going to sue me. again. And so Jay-Z has just destroyed. Tony Busby. I mean, it was a it was a. blood bath and he destroyed Tony Busby. and Tony Busby was like, I don't think. Tony Busby will ever be the same after. that Jay-Z incident. >> I wouldn't be. >> right. And I don't believe Tony Busby. will ever sue Jay-Z again. So, that's. the cost of doing business. So, Jay-Z's. like, "Yeah, I got to pay 50 million, hundred million. I'm not going to pay. this person a dime." He was like, there.

was a movie with Mel Gibson where they. took his kid and they ransomed this kid. for like five million and he goes on the. news and he says, "Here's the five. million that I was going to pay you for. ransom, but instead of paying you for. ransom, I'm offering $5 million for. anyone that brings you to me." And then. all of a sudden, everyone's like, "Oh, so like those type of people are out. there that just don't care." And then. there's other people that want to move. on. It's such a low amount. And from. Tony Busby's statement that said we had. a very respectful negotiation, my.

feeling is that's a very low amount. >> I do want to talk about other. allegations, too, because in this. specific case with Jane Doe filing in. April, now we're in July. It's a matter. of months before we have a settlement. But then there's Michelle Evans who also. has a lawsuit, but this has been moving. through the court system for years. So, I'm wondering, do you think there could. be a settlement in that case ahead? Maybe it it just comes to again it comes. down to the numbers. If someone is. saying like, "Oh, I want $100 million.".

It's not worth it to me to settle. If. someone has a number that is in mind, and I say this all the time, right when. I became a lawyer, there was a case that. I had. It was my personal case, right? But one of I I was driving a Jeep I had. a Jeep CJ7 and an arm from an arm from. an apartment building smashed down on my. windshield when I was driving through. And before I became a lawyer, they're. like, "Hey, you know, sorry, but we're. not paying a dime. Like, go ahead and.

sue us." So, I was like, "Okay." And. then I became a lawyer, and the first. case that I filed was against them. And. I was like, "Okay, now I'm suing you.". And it was like $2,500. So, the apartment building was like, "Oh, this is going to cost us seven. grand, you know, 10 grand to hire an. attorney. We're just going to pay him. the 2500." Now, if I said, "I want 20. grand," they would have said, "That's. okay. you know, keep going with your. lawsuit because it's only going to cost. us 10 to fight your lawsuit. Same thing. with these type of cases. So, that case. that's older, probably the amounts in.

mediation are not the amounts that you. would want to pay for settlement because. economically it's a silly amount. So, if. someone's asking for 15 or 20 million, you can defend the case for 500 grand, you know, and you think there's nothing. to it, that you really don't have any. liability. You just keep defending the. case. Seems like in that case it might. be a bit about the numbers based on your. answer there about weighing the options. and everything. A lot happening in the. numbers. >> It's always it always is the bottom.

line, right? But there really is a lot. happening in the Shannon Sharp case. Thank you so much Bradford Cohen for. coming on and giving us your expertise. and breaking it all down for us. >> Thanks for having me. >> That's where the case sits right now. with Shannon Sharp. And that also means. that's where we'll be leaving you for. this episode of Sidebar. Be sure to find. us on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm. Sierra Gillespie. Thanks for listening.

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