Apparently, Shannon Sharpe and his lawyer, Lanny J. Davis were not expecting these sexual abuse accusations to see the light of day. That's what the latter shared with reporters earlier today per TMZ Sports. In his own words, he said it was, "a big surprise to us when suddenly this case was filed without any advanced warning."
The reason for them being shocked boils down to the fact that they offered the alleged victim "at least" $10 million before this civil suit went public Sunday. Davis reveals that mediations to close a deal began "within the last month or so." While this was going on, Gabriella Zuniga, the accuser, was supposedly leaning towards taking the money.
Instead, she decided against it. According to Davis she "suddenly without warning, walked away from our offer." Overall, this is quite an interesting thing to reveal, especially for a defendant and his representation. Usually, the plaintiff does something like this to swing the momentum in their favor.
Shannon Sharpe Rape Lawsuit
In other words, they usually want to be the ones to control the narrative and paint the picture that the defendant is actually guilty. We will see what happens though as this is all incredibly fresh. A court date has yet to be revealed. However, we do know that the accuser of Shannon Sharpe is seeking $50 million in damages.
Zuniga is claiming that the TV personality was incredibly abusive and even raped her in October 2024. She also claims that he sexually abused her in January 2025. Tony Buzbee is orchestrating everything for her, who claims she was just 20 years old when they met. Sharpe and Davis believe this a blatant "blackmail" attempt and is a total "shakedown."
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