Everything to know about the sexual assault settlement between Shannon Sharpe and Jane Doe, his legal stance and alleged incidents outlined in court documents about him.
NFL Hall of Fame Shannon Sharpe was accused of rape and sexual battery in a bombshell $50 million lawsuit.
In court documents filed in Nevada on April 20, according to NBC Sports, a woman identified as “Jane Doe” accused Sharpe of sexually assaulting her on multiple occasions as well as making verbal threats. Sharpe strongly denied those allegations, calling the lawsuit a “shakedown” on behalf of Jane Doe’s attorney, Tony Buzbee. The athlete later outed Jane Doe’s supposed identity in a video statement.
Sharpe’s attorneys have acknowledged he previously attempted to settle Jane Doe’s claim with a payment of “at least $10 million,” but she turned down his offer of meditation.
On July 19, a lawyer for “Jane Doe” confirmed in a statement to Us Weekly that Sharpe and his accuser had settled the legal dispute out of court.
“On April 20, 2025, The Buzbee Law Firm filed a complaint in Nevada making several allegations against Shannon Sharpe on behalf of our client,” Buzbee said at the time. “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.”
Keep scrolling to learn everything about the lawsuit, the allegations against Sharpe, his denial and the settlement.
In a $50 million lawsuit filed in Nevada on April 20, Sharpe was accused of committing assault, sexual assault, battery and sexual battery against the unidentified woman.
In court docs obtained by NBC Sports, Jane Doe alleged that she met Sharpe at a Los Angeles gym when she was 20 years old and he was in his mid-50s. In her lawsuit, Jane Doe recalled that her first encounter with Sharpe involved the athlete offering to “buy her fake t**s” if she won a weight-loss competition.
According to Jane Doe, the pair had “a rocky consensual relationship” over two years, though she alleges that Sharpe inflicted intentional emotional distress. Among a litany of allegations, Jane Doe accused Sharpe of sometimes recording their sexual activity without her consent and then showing the footage to others.
The woman additionally accused Sharpe of becoming more controlling during their final months together, including once allegedly telling her, “I will f***ing kill you,” when he noticed she was trying to share her location with friends out of concern.
Her court documents mention that Jane Doe tried to allegedly pull away from Sharpe after he unintentionally live-streamed himself having sex with another woman on Instagram in September 2024.
Sharpe is alleged to have confronted Jane Doe after she started ignoring his calls, leading to an incident of forcible sex without her consent in October 2024. The woman reported in her court filing that Sharpe allegedly raped her again in January 2025 without wearing a condom.
Her 13-page complaint states: “A woman can say ‘yes’ to consensual sexual relations with a man 99 times, but when she says ‘no’ even once, that ‘no’ means no. Defendant Shannon Sharpe, a man who is accustomed to getting what he wants, completely fails to understand this basic concept.
“After many months of manipulating and controlling Plaintiff — a woman more than thirty years younger than he — and repeatedly threatening to brutally choke and violently slap her, Sharpe refused to accept the answer no and raped Plaintiff, despite her sobbing and repeated screams of ‘no.’”
Sharpe’s attorney, Lanny J. Davis, told Us Weekly on Monday, April 21, that Jane Doe’s lawsuit is “filled with lies, distortions, and misrepresentations — and it will not succeed.
