Edmonton Oilers' billionaire owner Daryl Katz has been named in an American counter-claim civil lawsuit. And the details involved in the case are not pretty, whatsoever.
Considered just a minor player within the larger picture, the 61-year-old Katz's name was included in documents tied to a much bigger civil counter-claim from Mitchell Taylor Button and Dusty Button - a dance instructing couple located in Nevada.
The response came following a 2021 lawsuit filed by one Sage Humphries amongst other ballerinas who danced for the Button couple, accusing the two of unlawful sexual practices and sexual abuse while the dancers were working with the Buttons.
Katz is listed as a third-party defendant in the piece
Katz has previously been accused of soliciting a married actress back in early-2017 - Jane the Virgin star Greice Santo - into his hotel room for sex on two occasions. Santo declined wanting any sort of involvement with Katz, but did receive two wire transfers of $35K following each gesture from the Oilers' owner.
This time, the story is uglier.
Although listing Humphries as being involved in a consensual three-way relationship with the Buttons at one point during their time working together, the counter-claim also says that prior to her 18th birthday, Humphries was involved with Katz and two other men. The Buttons are looking to seek payment and responsibility from Katz and the others listed in the suit.
The lawsuit paints Katz as a malicious businessman preying upon a young dancer, to whom he turned into her own personal underage sex slave.
“Humphries was literally a child prostitute to a billionaire,” the claim states. “And her mother assisted her in laundering the money she was paid and in trafficking her to Katz.”
Alleged text messages between Katz and Humphries were included in the documents from a time when Katz was 53. Humphries would have been 17 at the time the messages were sent.
Katz's lawyer Robert Klieger says his client has denied all wrongdoing, and despite knowing Humphries on a personal level, they were never involved romantically, but rather just for a movie she was pitching to him.
"One of Daryl's friends connected him with Sage because Sage was working with some producing partners on shopping a motion picture project that they had put together, basically, and it was based in the ballet world," he said.
The Buttons played off the Katz element of the countersuit as a designed distraction.
“Humphries was literally a child prostitute to a billionaire,” the claim states. “And her mother assisted her in laundering the money she was paid and in trafficking her to Katz.”
Alleged text messages between Katz and Humphries were included in the documents from a time when Katz was 53. Humphries would have been 17 at the time the messages were sent.
Katz's lawyer Robert Klieger says his client has denied all wrongdoing, and despite knowing Humphries on a personal level, they were never involved romantically, but rather just for a movie she was pitching to him.
"One of Daryl's friends connected him with Sage because Sage was working with some producing partners on shopping a motion picture project that they had put together, basically, and it was based in the ballet world," he said.
The Buttons played off the Katz element of the countersuit as a designed distraction.
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