Edmonton Oilers Owner Named In A Civil Suit Accusing Him Of Paying An Underage Ballerina For Sex

UPDATE: On August 3, the United States District Court, State of Nevada, Mitchell and Dusty Button voluntarily dismissed all claims against Daryl Katz, according to a Notice of Voluntary Dismissal sent to Narcity.

The Edmonton Oilers owner, Daryl Katz, has denied allegations made that he paid $75,000 to an underage girl in the U.S. in exchange for "sexual favours."

Mitchell Taylor Button, a dance teacher, and his wife Dusty Button, a former Boston Ballet dancer, have been accused of sexually abusing several young ballerina dancers in a lawsuit launched in 2021.

CBC News has reported that Katz was named in a third-party counterclaim, filed in a court in Nevada, by Mitchell and Dusty Button.

The news outlet said that in the counterclaim, the Buttons alleged they had a consensual "throuple sexual relationship" with lead plaintiff in the suit, Sage Humphries, when she was 18 years old.

However, the suit also reportedly claimed Humphries had been involved in three sexual relationships with older men when she was underage, Katz purportedly included.

The claim alleges that Humphries was used as "a child prostitute to a billionaire, and her mother assisted her in laundering the money she was paid and in trafficking her to Katz."

According to the claim, the Buttons say that Katz paid Humphries $75,000 for her "sexual favours."

CBC News obtained alleged text exchanges between Katz and Humphries where the Edmonton Oilers owner said he would send $50,000 to the dancer.

According to the court filing obtained by the news outlet, Katz was 53 years old at the time of the exchange, while Humphries was 17. However, following publication of this story, a representative of Katz told Narcity that Humphries' birth date indicates she was 18, not 17, at the time of the exchange with Katz.*

Robert Klieger, legal counsel for Katz, told CBC News that Katz and Humphries had met on two occasions in the spring of 2016 when the ballerina was pitching to Katz's film company.

Klieger also said he was unable to verify the authenticity of the texts, but confirmed to CBC that Katz had arranged for $75,000 to be sent to Humphries as part of their business dealings.

Klieger told Narcity the Oilers owner denies the allegations made against him and branded them "baseless and scurrilous."

He said the accusations made against Katz are a "transparent and pathetic attempt to distract attention" from accusations made against the Buttons.

"There has never been a sexual relationship of any kind between Mr. Katz and Ms. Humphries," he continued.

Following publication of this story, Katz' representative provided a statement from Ms. Humphries' lawyer which he said "confirmed the absence of any sexual relationship with Mr. Katz."

The statements from Ms. Sigrid McCawley, Boies Schiller, Attorney for Mr. Humphries, read: "Sage had a business relationship with Mr. Katz and there was never any sexual relationship between them.

"As is typical of abusers facing serious litigation, with four walls of facts closing in, the Buttons have filed counterclaims that distract from and distort the truth.

"Abusers often try to weaponize the allegations brought against them, and that’s exactly what is happening here. The counterclaims the Buttons have filed falsely and recklessly implicate others, including Daryl Katz, and are a factually unfounded attempt to portray the women they abused as liars."

*This story has been updated.