A former Coppin State University (CSU) basketball player is taking legal action against the school, claiming that an assistant coach sexually assaulted and blackmailed him.
Baltimore Brew reported, Ibn Williams believed he was talking to a woman through social media when he sent her explicit texts and nudes of himself in the fall of his freshman year in college. But he wasn’t aware he was allegedly communicating with Lucian Brownlee, a former Coppin State basketball player who was serving as Director of Player Development and Director of Basketball Operations.
The lawsuit accuses Brownlee of manipulating Williams into sending nudes and racy texts. Along with, Brownlee allegedly blackmailing Williams into recording a sexual encounter with him. Williams reportedly “was enticed into sending images of himself to this person of a sexual nature that [he]believed were private and in the context of a developing romantic relationship,” the lawsuit says.
The complaint details how the blackmailer “ordered” the two men to have sex, which Williams initially refused. But once the fall semester began, Williams complied when the blackmailer demanded that he “record and send a video of Plaintiff and Lucien [sic]Brownlee engaging in oral sex,” according to the lawsuit.
Coppin’s head basketball coach, Juan Dixon, is also named in the complaint for allegedly failing to support Williams by taking appropriate action upon learning of Brownlee’s actions. Williams was also required to attend basketball practice as news of the incident rocked the university.
CSU is named in the complaint after officials retaliated against Williams by allegedly withholding his financial aid and housing. It has also been alleged blaming the athlete for the negative media coverage in connection with the incident.
“The way he was treated was abhorrent,” Williams’ attorney, Daniel “Donny” Epstein, told the Brew.
Brownlee was a senior at CSU when Williams learned in the spring of 2019 that Brownlee also “exchanged sexual content with Plaintiff’s tormentor,” the lawsuit states.
Williams refused to send more sexually explicit material, then Brownlee leaked the content, the Brew reports. When the texts continued through the 2018-2019 basketball season, Williams feared he would loose his scholarship and “his place in the basketball program, his tuition and room and board payments,” according to the lawsuit, so he “continued to respond to the person messaging him in a futile attempt to appease his tormentor.”
Williams and the blackmailer allegedly continued through March of 2020 until it apparently became clear by way of “information and belief” the lawsuit says.
CSU reportedly has an anti-sexual harassment policy but “took no action” to fix the situation with Williams the lawsuit states.
“Our strong belief is that Lucian [himself]was the catfisher,” Epstein said.
Epstein says the school shouldn’t have hired Brownlee due to his past issues with mental illness, which the university was allegedly aware. “The coach should have known better than to put this person in a position of seniority,” he said.
Brownlee is reportedly no longer working for the school.
Williams would later finish his last semester at CSU online before he transferred to another university to complete his degree requirements,” Epstein said, according to the Brew.
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