Patriots wide receiver Antonio Brown allegedly sent threatening text messages to one of the two women that have come forward to accuse him of sexual misconduct.
Brown hired the woman two years ago to paint a mural of him in his home when he allegedly made an unwanted sexual advance toward her. He proceeded to fire her after she did not reciprocate on the advancement.
On Wednesday night, the accuser claims that she received a group text message that “appeared to come from the same phone number Brown provided to her in 2017,” Sports Illustrated reported. The initial texts in the group chat, which included four other phone numbers, were from the number the woman identified as Brown’s from their previous interactions, and the number she attributed to him accused her of making up the story for money.
That same individual also texted pictures of the woman’s children in the group chat.
Sports Illustrated was able to independently confirm that the texts were sent from the same phone number Brown used to communicate with her at the time of the alleged incident.
The accuser’s lawyer, Lisa J. Banks, sent a letter to the NFL accusing Brown of being “intimidating and threatening to our client, in violation of the NFL Personal Conduct Policy,” on Thursday evening.
“Our client … is understandably frightened by these text messages, which are clearly intended to threaten and intimidate her,” the lawyer wrote. “While she certainly qualifies as a ‘starving artist,’ she has never approached Mr. Brown, nor will she, about seeking money to compensate her for his sexual misconduct, contrary to his allegations in the text messages.”
Brown has become a league headline since the end of last season. The Pittsburgh Steelers traded Brown to the Oakland Raiders but after a helmet debacle and getting frostbite on his feet, the Raiders released him. He then signed with the New England Patriots and played his first game for them last Sunday.
