Claims that Edmonton Oilers owner Darryl Katz had a sexual relationship with an underage ballerina have been dismissed by a US civil lawsuit.
The motion to voluntarily dismiss the charges against Katz was filed in U.S. District Court in Nevada last week. The accompanying strike motion removes all references to dancer Sage Humphreys being a “minor,” “minor,” or “17-year-old,” as previously alleged when she met and exchanged messages with the billionaire in spring 2016. The references to “statutory rape” and “sexual trafficking” have also been removed from the third-party claim.
Both Katz and Humphreys denied having a sexual relationship.
The withdrawn allegations were made by Mitchell Taylor Button, a dance teacher, and his wife Dusty Button, once a principal member of the Boston Ballet, as part of the couple’s defense against a sexual assault case brought by seven aspiring ballerinas in 2021
Their third-party lawsuit, filed in July, describes a consensual “dual sexual relationship” with Humphreys, the lead plaintiff in the abuse case, while also alleging that she had engaged in three prior sexual relationships as an underage teenager with far more grown men, including Katz. Katz also allegedly paid the young dancer $75,000 for “her sexual services.”
The document includes screenshots of text messages allegedly exchanged between Humphries and Katz discussing payments of $25,000 and $50,000.
An alleged text message exchange between Edmonton Oilers owner Darryl Katz and teenage ballerina Sage Humphries filed as part of a US civil lawsuit. (U.S. District Court, Nevada)
It is “simply unfair” to blame Katz, the filing said
In the motion to strike, Mark Randazza, the Buttons’ attorney, noted that “it is highly unusual for a party to strike portions of their own pleadings,” but said the information provided to them now “calls into question” their previous claims that the how old was Humphries when she was dealing with Katz.
In light of those events, the filing said it was “simply unfair” to accuse Katz and the other two men of being involved with Humphries when she was 17.
“The Buttons and their attorney have conducted extensive (not just painstaking) research to substantiate the allegations that Plaintiff Sage Humphreys was a minor at the time of the alleged events,” the new motion says, citing Wikipedia, LexisNexis and Google search results. . “To this end, however, Sage Humphreys appears to have lied to the Buttons and other parties about her age.”
Lawyers for Humphries did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the allegations that she misrepresented her age.
After the original lawsuit was filed in July, Robert Kliger, the Los Angeles lawyer representing Katz, told CBC News that the NHL owner met with Humphries twice in the spring of 2016 and gave the teenager $50,000 to to support a film based on the ballet, which she was pitching to Silver Pictures, his Hollywood production company.
The project, a remake of an independent Australian film called Fighting Romeoremains under development, according to a listing on IMDB.
Klieger later provided CBC News with a date of birth showing Humphries to be 18, not 17, during her discussions about the film with the Oilers owner. Humphreys’ lawyer subsequently confirmed the October 1997 date of birth.
Kliger declined to comment on the new motions, except to note that all claims against Katz have now been dropped and he is no longer a party to the suit.
Mark Randaza, who represents the Buttons, also declined an interview request with CBC News.
But in a statement he provided to Sportsnet.cathe Las Vegas attorney personally apologized “for any harm the factual misstatements may have caused Mr. Katz and his family.”
“No one should repeat these claims in any context without noting that they have been retracted and rejected,” Randaza said in a statement.
Randaza describes himself as a “First Amendment attorney,” and his website highlights a number of areas of expertise, including civil rights, defamation, the adult entertainment business, and “protecting erotic expression.”
He has attracted media attention for some of his controversial clients, including Alex Jones, the Infowars conspiracy theorist, and Andrew Anglin, publisher of the Daily Stormer, a neo-Nazi website. Randazza faces disciplinary proceedings from Florida, California and Nevada State Bar Associations.
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