Last week, the NFL issued Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott a six-game suspension for violating the NFL’s personal-conduct policy, following an investigation into domestic abuse allegations. Now the former Buckeye has filed an official appeal, hoping to discredit his accuser by highlighting a text exchange between her and a friend in which she discussed leveraging sex videos featuring her and Elliott for money from the player.

Yahoo! Sport’s Charles Robinson obtained a 160-page report prepared by NFL investigators, which reportedly contains a series of text messages between Elliott’s ex-girlfriend Tiffany Thompson and an unnamed friend that suggest the pair considered blackmailing the second-year pro for $20,000.

According to the report, here is the exact exchange between Thompson and her friend on September 21, 2016:

[Thompson]: What if I sold mine and Ezekiel’s sex videos

[Friend]: We’d all be millionaires

[Friend]: We could black mail him w that

[Thompson]: I want to bro

[Friend]: Let’s do it

[Thompson]: Scared

[Friend]: Shit

[Friend]: Id be like look give me 10k or I’ll just sell our sex videos for the same amount flat

[Friend]: Me and my friends tryna go on vacation and get boob jobs

(the report notes a pair of blank texts)

[Thompson]: 10k Bitch I want 20k

[Thompson]: Go big or go home

[Friend]: That’s fine too

“While none of this appears to be evidence that can conclusively clear Elliott of domestic violence, the NFLPA and his lawyers believe it speaks to the credibility aspect that may ultimately determine the success of his appeal,” writes Yahoo! Sports.

Elliott, 22, was accused of assaulting Thompson in Columbus, Ohio, in July 2016, after she posted images of bruises all over her body to her Instagram, tagging Elliott. In the captions, Thompson said Elliott picked her up and threw her across the room by her arms and choked her. She later called Columbus police and told officers that Elliott had been hitting her for “the past five days.”

Elliott, who was neither arrested nor charged in the case, continues to maintain his innocence.

However, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Elliott after four independent advisers concluded that there was “substantial and persuasive evidence supporting a finding that [Elliott] engaged in physical violence against Ms. Thompson on multiple occasions during the week of July 16, 2016.” The league found the “photographic and medical forensic evidence corroborates many critical elements of the allegations regarding the causes of her injuries.”

Following the release of the text messages, many were accused of shaming the victim with their responses on Twitter.

Tiffany Thompson was willing to ruin @EzekielElliott career so she and her pals could get $20K worth of boob jobs. https://t.co/QEUpT1Pk6e

— mike fisher ✭ (@fishsports) August 16, 2017

This doesn’t clear Zeke. It just tears away at her credibility. Makes me wonder how unimpressed they were with Zeke’s credibility

— Mark Friedman (@friedo1033) August 16, 2017

I see we’ve reached the “trash the victim” point in Ezekiel Elliott case. Lovely. Remember victims can behave badly, still have been abused

— Nancy Armour (@nrarmour) August 16, 2017

Seeing people paint Ezekiel Elliott as the victim in this situation is … something.

— Scott Bell (@ScottBellDMN) August 11, 2017

Elliott’s lawyers intend to further attack Thompson’s credibility in their appeal using documents that show she allegedly lied to the Columbus Police department during its investigation, and her various threats to “ruin his career,” including one that was racially based, according to sources. In one such threat, Thompson allegedly told Elliott on July 22, “You are a black male athlete. I’m a white girl. They are not going to believe you.”

Elliott will be eligible to make his season debut October 29 against the Washington Redskins. His appeal hearing is scheduled for August 29.

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Ezekiel Elliott’s Accuser Admitted to Suggesting Blackmail Over Sex Tapes appeared first on Law Street.

Greg Hardy, a defensive end for the Dallas Cowboys, is returning to the field after a four-game suspension for domestic violence. According to court records, he allegedly assaulted his ex-girlfriend Nicole Holder, at one point throwing her onto a futon covered in assault rifles. But now that he’s back, it’s all sunshine and rainbows for Hardy, as he made inappropriate jokes to interviewers about coming out “guns blazin,'” and commented on the attractiveness of other players’ wives in a spectacularly sexist  fashion. Hardy deserved some seriously hefty criticism for the fact that he showed no remorse for his actions, recognition that he’d done anything wrong, or respect for women. Well, he got what he deserved, as the harshest and arguably most badass criticism came from “Garbage Time” host Katie Nolan. And she totally, utterly, nailed it. Check out the video below:

Nolan has hosted the show, which airs on Fox Sports 1, since earlier this year. Playing off the title of her show, she denounced Hardy as a “garbage human,” for his behavior, as well as the NFL, the Dallas Cowboys, and sports media for not speaking out about his inappropriate comments.

Nolan hits all the important points in her criticism, including but not limited to:

1. Hardy’s totally cavalier attitude.
2. The NFL’s seeming endorsement of his comments when they put them on the league’s website.
3. The Cowboys’ posting of the interview on their site.
4. The fact that a reporter asked Hardy a question about finding another player’s wife attractive instead of following up with him about the very real, important, and upsetting reasons why he was suspended.

But what hit closest to home was Nolan’s explanation of the fact that no one seems to find this problematic because the NFL doesn’t care about its female fans. She stated:

Greg Hardy had to pretend to respect women for 12 minutes — just 12 minutes — and he couldn’t even do that. And what’s worse: No one stopped him. They let him go on about girlfriends and guns, and posted video of it on DallasCowboys.com, because who f***ing cares, right? Women won’t see it. Women only care about football during those events they run where they tell them what to cook on game day and give them free manicures.

It’s a powerful statement, but more importantly, it really does seem to be true. After the controversy over Ray Rice’s suspension–also for domestic violence–last year, the NFL pledged to do better. While the NFL has taken some positive steps, including partnering with organizations that combat domestic abuse and violence and reforming some of its polices, the way that Hardy’s return to the game was handled shows that it’s clearly not enough. The NFL, the Dallas Cowboys, and the reporters who interviewed Hardy could all still do way better. Many kudos to Nolan for pointing it out.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Katie Nolan Says What Everyone is Thinking About the NFL and Domestic Violence appeared first on Law Street.