Matt Araiza intends to sue alleged victim's attorney for defamation
Former Buffalo Bills punter Matt Araiza revealed on Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel this week that he intends to sue attorney Dan Gilleon for defamation. It’s part of an effort to push back against allegations that he was part of a gang rape of a minor at an off-campus party while he was at San Diego State.
“I’ve already hired an attorney for it, and things have already been drafted,” Araiza told reporter Andrea Kremer. “I will never waive my right to sue him. That’s coming.”
Araiza reportedly discussed a settlement with the young woman, but that settlement would presumably include a waiver of claims the NFL player could make against the alleged victim or Gilleon. That is now seemingly out of the question.
Prosecutors in San Diego and now the University have since cleared Araiza after conducting their investigations.
The investigation by San Diego State University into Araiza reportedly resulted in “no findings” against the former Aztecs kicker.
“There are no findings against Matt Araiza,” SDSU said in a statement to Yahoo Sports.
The school also shared that Araiza is no longer the “subject of an active investigation.”
Back in December, prosecutors in San Diego announced they were no longer pursuing charges against him.
Witness testimony reportedly corroborated that Araiza left the off-campus party an hour before the 17-year-old woman told police the rape occurred. The young woman initially identified Araiza as part of the gang rape. She said he was the man who led her into the bedroom for his teammates to have sex with her.
SDSU investigation ‘meaningless,’ per victim’s attorney
Araiza has maintained his innocence since the allegations surfaced. However, he did admit to a sexual encounter with the woman earlier in the night and claimed she told him she was 18.
Despite the ‘no findings’ report from SDSU’s investigation, Gilleon believes the new information about Araiza reportedly not being at the party when the rape occurred stems from a single witness. The civil suit against the former Bills punter is ongoing. Gilleon called the SDSU investigation’s findings “meaningless.”
“SDSU’s investigation has this garbage-in-garbage-out dilemma: SDSU did not investigate anything for nearly a year, and when it allegedly started, SDSU never spoke to my client,” Gilleon said.
The attorney insisted that Araiza bears responsibility whether or not he was in the room.
“Our allegation is, is he contributed heavily to the harm that she suffered that night,” Gilleon said. “He had sex with my client. Following that, she ended up having sex with multiple guys and came out of there bloodied, in shock. Ended up at the hospital, ended up with the police, and ended up traumatized. So that’s what I mean by the gang rape. Gang rapes can occur for two days. They can occur over time. They can occur multiple places. So that’s the clarification.”
Since his release from the Bills during the 2022 preseason, Araiza has not found a new team. He worked out with the Jets last month but hasn’t signed any deal for 2023.