Florida State is conducting an independent Title IX investigation of the Jameis Winston sexual assault case, and so far that has led to one thing — testy lawyers hurling accusations at one another.
In a letter informing FSU that Winston will cooperate with the investigation, the junior quarterback’s attorney, David Cornwell, told the school that Winston’s accuser demanded $7 million to keep quiet before going public with her accusations. The alleged victim’s attorneys fired back on Wednesday, claiming that Cornwell is the one who initiated a meeting to discuss a settlement.
“The facts that Mr. Cornwell chose not to disclose are that it was he himself who reached out to our client’s former counsel Patricia Carroll to discuss paying off our client,” the accuser’s Title IX lawyers said in a statement, per Rachel Axon of USA Today Sports. “Patricia Carroll didn’t’ even know who David Cornwell was until he called. Mr. Cornwell then himself flew down from Atlanta to negotiate with Ms. Carroll.
“Settlement discussions were immediately unproductive as Cornwell was crude and insulting going so far as to say ‘your client likes to (expletive) football players.’ When told that the client’s main concern was not money but that Winston be held accountable for his actions, Cornwell threatened to sue our client and her parents for civil racketeering in an effort to intimidate them into staying quiet.”
Someone is lying. It could be Cornwell, but he certainly isn’t backing down.
Tries to extort a 20yr old college student for $7million …. and I'm unprofessional. #priceless
— David Cornwell (@wmdavidcornwell) September 24, 2014
Yes, we live in a generation where lawyers use Twitter to take shots at each other over serious legal matters. Deal with it.
H/T Deadspin
