Gareth Bale's former agent denies ‘raping a sex slave'
The powerful football figure 'trafficked' a woman from Australia to the UK in 2017 and abused her over a six-year period, a US lawsuit alleges.
In a statement via his lawyers, Barnett vehemently denies the allegations. 'The claims made in today's complaint against me have no basis in reality and are untrue,' he said. 'We will vigorously defend this lawsuit through the appropriate legal process. I am looking forward to being entirely vindicated and exonerated.'
The civil complaint was lodged at a US district court in Los Angeles. An unnamed woman, referred to as 'Jane Doe', says Barnett 'trafficked' her and made 'repeated threats to her life and the lives of her minor children'.
The civil case was filed on Wednesday and alleges the pair first met in the 1990s through a professional athlete in London. They reconnected online and then in person in 2017, it is claimed. She is then said to have moved to the UK with her teenage children with her expenses covered by Barnett's sports agency CAA Stellar. The papers say that on her arrival he told her he 'owned' her and raped her in a hotel room.
The 75-year-old, who was ranked as the world's most powerful sports agent in 2019 by Forbes magazine, is accused in the lawsuit of telling the woman to obey him as 'My Master' and to 'never say it hurts'.
The papers, which also describe alleged degrading acts that included drinking urine or ingesting faeces, say the woman was 'tied up overnight without food or water'.
She says she was 'trafficked, threatened, tortured and held' in bondage from 2017 to 2023. 'Realising she was powerless against a dangerous predator, Ms Doe submitted to Barnett in order to avoid being severely beaten or even killed,' the lawsuit said.
'Jane Doe' is also suing Hollywood talent firm Creative Artists Agency and sports agency CAA Stellar, where Mr Barnett was executive chairman until his retirement last year.
The claimant is being represented by women's rights lawyer Tamara Holder-DeMaio, who wrote on X: 'We are proud to represent Jane Doe v CAA, Stellar & Jonathan Barnett.'
The Los Angeles Times reports CAA said it first heard of the woman's allegations last year when her lawyers made settlement demands. 'While the complaint attempts to connect these allegations to CAA's business, Ms Doe has never been an employee, consultant, or contractor of CAA, ICM, or Stellar, nor has she ever had any business connection to CAA, ICM, or Stellar,' CAA said in its statement.
'CAA takes any allegations of this nature seriously, and through counsel, promptly urged Ms Doe to contact law enforcement in the United Kingdom.'
Barnett masterminded Bale's £85 million move to Real Madrid. Barnett, who was educated at St Marylebone Grammar School, announced his retirement last year. A defence is yet to be filed in the civil case.
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