Former Bills punter Matt Araiza said he plans to sue attorney Dan Gilleon for defamation in regard to a civil lawsuit filed by Gilleon that alleged Araiza took part in a gang rape last year, Araiza said in an interview with Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel that will air Tuesday night.
The Bills released Araiza in August after he was accused of raping a 17-year-old girl along with two of his former San Diego State football teammates near the school’s campus in the fall of 2021.
Araiza told HBO’s Andrea Kremer that he has retained an attorney and would not waive his right to make any claims against Gilleon or the plaintiff in the event that the claims against him reach a settlement, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.
The San Diego District Attorney’s office declined to file charges following an investigation that wrapped up in December, claiming that Araiza wasn’t in the room when the alleged attack occurred.
Gilleon also was interviewed by HBO, and he stated that Araiza’s precise location that night “doesn’t absolve him of liability.” He also posits the theory that Araiza and other people allegedly purposefully got the plaintiff drunk that night in order to have sex with her, though, according to Florio, that assertion does not appear in the civil complaint filed in August.
“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.”
When Kremer pointed out to Gilleon that this sounded different than what appeared in the allegations in the civil complaint, Gilleon pushed back.
“I don’t know. I think my client is going to get on the stand and tell a story that’s pretty ugly about Matt Araiza,” Gilleon said. “And I think it’s going to be consistent with what that complaint is.”
