High-profile football agent Barnett accused of rape in US lawsuit

In a US lawsuit, well-known British sports agent Jonathan Barnett is accused of raping a woman more than 39 times.

The unnamed woman, known as “Jane Doe,” claims that Mr. Barnett “trafficked” her from Australia to the UK in 2017 and “tortured” and kept her as a “sex slave” for six years in a civil complaint filed in a US district court in Los Angeles.

She claims that Mr. Barnett repeatedly threatened both her and her young children.

Through the appropriate legal process, we will vigorously defend this lawsuit. I’m anticipating being completely justified and exonerated,” his attorneys said in a statement.

Forbes magazine named Mr. Barnett as the most powerful sports agent in the world in 2019.

On Wednesday, a civil lawsuit was filed.

According to court records, the pair first connected via an online and then in person in 2017 after first meeting in person in the 1990s through a professional athlete in London.

She and her teenage children, who were managed by Mr. Barnett’s sports agency CAA Stellar, were quickly able to cover moving costs.

According to the filing, he admitted to having raped her in a hotel room after telling her he “owned” her.

According to the lawsuit, Mr. Barnett continued to impose strict rules requiring him to always obey him, calling him “My Master” and requiring him to never “never say it hurts.”

The complaint then goes on to describe alleged degrading behaviors, such as consuming faeces or drinking urine.

The woman was also “tied up overnight without food or water” as a result of the alleged torture.

She claims that between 2017 and 2023, she was “trafficked, threatened, tortured, and held” in bondage in various locations around the world, including Los Angeles.

Additionally, “Jane Doe” is suing the Hollywood talent agency Creative Artists Agency and CAA Stellar, where Mr. Barnett served as executive chairman until his retirement last year.

According to the court documents, the parent companies of CAA Stellar, ICM and CAA, “failed to find and/or willfully or recklessly disregarded” that substantial payments were made between 2017 and 2023, despite the woman being an athlete or agent.

In emails sent from his job account, it is claimed that Barnett described her as a “slave.”

According to court documents, Mr. Barnett “used his power and money to maintain coercive control” over the woman who “feared for her life and the lives of her children.”

According to “Jane Doe’s” attorneys, the case involves “institutional abuse at the highest level.”

On her behalf, they are requesting compensation.

The woman’s lawyers filed settlement demands last year, according to the LA Times, and the press inquired about the allegations.

Ms. Doe has never had a business relationship with CAA, ICM, or Stellar, according to the CAA statement, and while the complaint attempts to link these allegations to CAA’s business, she has never been an employee, consultant, or contractor of those organizations.