A settlement has been reached in a $50 million lawsuit against ESPN host and former NFL great Shannon Sharpe.
“On April 20, 2025, The Buzbee Law Firm filed a complaint in Nevada making several allegations against Shannon Sharpe on behalf of our client. Both sides acknowledge a long-term consensual and tumultuous relationship,” attorney Tony Buzbee posted on X.
“After protracted and respectful negotiations, I’m pleased to announce that we have reached a mutually agreed upon resolution. All matters have now been addressed satisfactorily, and the matter is closed. The lawsuit will thus be dismissed with prejudice,” he wrote.
JANE DOE V. SHANNON SHARPE
On April 20, 2025, The Buzbee Law Firm filed a complaint in Nevada making several allegations against Shannon Sharpe on behalf of our client. Both sides acknowledge a long-term consensual and tumultuous relationship. After protracted and respectful…
— Tony Buzbee (@TonyBuzbee2) July 18, 2025
Dismissal with prejudice means the woman whose name was not released cannot file the same claim again against Sharpe, according to The New York Times.
The lawsuit had sought $50 million for “pain and suffering, psychological and emotional distress, mental anguish, embarrassment and humiliation.”
The lawsuit claimed Sharpe raped the woman two times in October 2024 and again in January 2025.
Sharpe was accused of recording the two having sex without the woman’s consent more than once.
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Sharpe was accused in the lawsuit of physically abusing the woman during their relationship, including choking and hitting her.
The suit claimed Sharpe threatened the life of the woman.
Lanny Davis, who represented Sharpe when the lawsuit was filed, said in April that Sharpe had offered the woman $10 million as a settlement, but that was rejected.
As noted by NBC, after the suit was filed, Sharpe had stepped away from his work at ESPN but said he would be back by the start of the preseason.
Sharpe had called the claims “false and disruptive,” and also once called the lawsuit a “shakedown,” according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The lawsuit said the woman met Sharpe at a gym in 2023 when she was 20. Sharpe is 57.
Sharpe was on three Super Bowl-winning teams during 14 years in the NFL and entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011.
Las Vegas police said in April that they did not investigate Sharpe in connection with any sexual misconduct claims contained in the lawsuit.
Neither Sharpe nor his lawyer commented on the settlement.
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