Former San Diego State punter Matt Araiza filed a defamation lawsuit Friday against the woman accusing him and other SDSU football players of raping her when she was 17.
Araiza said he had consensual sex with the woman, who he alleges told several people at the party that she was 18, according to the complaint filed in San Diego Superior Court.
The woman sued first, in a case filed 11 months ago, targeting Araiza and four other men.
She stated in the documents filed for her case that she had sex with Araiza outside the off-campus home where an October 2021 party was being held, then was brought into a bedroom where a group of men raped her while she was heavily intoxicated.
Araiza, a 2022 sixth-round NFL draft pick who was cut by the Buffalo Bills last August after the allegations surfaced, has said that he left the party before the alleged attacks.
Last year, the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office announced that no criminal charges would be filed in connection with the woman’s allegations.
In Araiza’s complaint, he claims the woman “boasted” to a friend about having sex with him. She then had consensual sex with other men after Araiza already had left the party, the new complaint states.
His lawsuit alleges that she subsequently defamed Araiza by making false statements to San Diego police and several news outlets.
Though Araiza stated in an interview on HBO that he intended to sue one of the woman’s attorneys, Dan Gilleon, for defamation, his complaint only lists the woman as a defendant.
The suit comes weeks after a judge indicated he might approve a request from Araiza’s lawyers to delve into the woman’s sexual history in connection with her lawsuit.
That same judge also approved a separate request to allow sexually graphic videos allegedly depicting the woman to be viewed by Araiza’s legal team, as well as those of his co-defendants.
Former SDSU football players Jaiden Brown, 20, and Jonathan Harrison, 21, were added to the woman’s complaint last month. The original suit named Araiza, and two other former Aztecs, Zavier Leonard and Nowlin “Pa’a” Ewaliko.
— City News Service
