Failed movie: Edmonton NHL club owner Katz is suspected of having a sexual relationship with an underage ballerina

In Canadian hockey, a scandal with sexual overtones has flared up again.

In late spring and early summer, accusations against the players of the national youth team of harassment and violence were actively discussed, and now the owner of the Edmonton Oilers NHL club, Daryl Katz, is suspected of having relations with a minor.

A recent U.S. civil lawsuit alleges that a Canadian billionaire paid ballerina Sage Humphreys, then 17, $75,000 in exchange for "sexual favors."

A loud statement came from Mitchell's dance teacher Taylor Button and his wife, Dusty, who used to be a soloist with the Boston ballet.

Moreover, initially seven novice ballerinas, including Humphreys, filed a lawsuit about sexual violence against the Buttons, but the Americans denied the allegations and issued a counter-statement.

They claim that their "group" relationship with Sage was based on mutual desire and began after she was 18 years old.

But earlier, the ballerina, according to them, while still a minor, was three times involved in relations with men much older than her - including the owner of the Oilers.

The case files include a screenshot of what is said to be a correspondence between Humphreys and Katz, in which the interviewee asks the girl if their relationship will remain "only between them" because, "given our age, this could be misunderstood."

After, presumably, Sage answers in the affirmative, the man says that "one of his guys" will transfer $ 50 thousand to her. Further, the interlocutors agree to meet in New York "in a couple of weeks."

The lawsuit does not explain how or when the screenshots were taken, but the ballerina's original statement allegedly says she gave Button her iPhone and passwords to help her grow her social media following.

It is reported that at the time of the correspondence, Katz was 53 years old, and Humphreys was 17.

In addition, the Buttons' lawsuit states that the ballerina's mother was aware of her daughter's relationship with the billionaire and helped "launder the money received."

Lawyer Robert Kliger, representing the interests of Katz, categorically denied all charges.

He emphasized that his client had never had a sexual relationship with Humphreys.

At the same time, the lawyer confirmed: in the spring of 2016, they met twice in connection with the project that the 17-year-old girl proposed to Katz's film company Silver Pictures.

"One of Daryl's friends set him up with Sage, as she was essentially working with some production partners to sell a ballet-related film project they had prepared," Kliger was quoted as saying by CBC.

He also confirmed that the Edmonton owner transferred $75,000 to Humphreys as part of this business relationship.

“The project was ultimately abandoned.

But during the review period, they asked for some help in order to have enough funds to support the project.

This is the $75,000,” Kliger explained.

According to the CBC, this is a remake of the Australian film Tackling Romeo, which has not yet been made.

According to Kliger, the "unfounded and obscene" claims of the Buttons are connected with the desire to divert attention from the accusations against themselves.

And the representative of Humphries and other ballerinas, Sigrid McCauley, called the act of the Buttons "a senseless interlude."

“As is typical for perpetrators of violence facing serious legal action, the Buttons have made counterclaims that divert from the truth, distort it and weaponize the accusations of violence against them.

Their counter-claims lead to false conclusions about the involvement of others, are unfounded and expose as liars the women they abused, ”McCauley said.

In turn, Mark Randazza, lawyer couple Button, declined to comment.

It is noteworthy that the current case is not the first time that Katz was suspected of paying for sexual services.

In 2017, professional bettor RJ Cipriani accused the owner of the Oilers of making an indecent proposal to his wife, model and actress Grace Santo, during a photo shoot in Hawaii.

He claimed that the businessman promised the girl $20,000 a day for intimate meetings.

The side alleges that Katz even wired $35,000 that Santo donated to charity after she backed out of the deal.

This story has not been developed.

At the very least, Krieger said that he could not go into details of how exactly the five-year-old conflict was resolved, but stressed that there was no "animosity or anything like that" between Katz and Cipriani.