MLB teams have their reasons for not signing former Cy Young pitcher Trevor Bauer, and it has been a frustrating road as the pitcher tried to clear his name in the aftermath of sexual assault accusations, which he denied.
Despite still not being approached by an MLB club, Bauer is receiving some form of vindication as one of the women who accused the former major league pitcher of sexual assault has been charged with defrauding the baseball player.
An indictment unsealed Monday in Maricopa County Superior Court charges the unnamed woman with fraud and theft by extortion, but details about the alleged crimes are sparse. It says Bauer and one other person were defrauded in a scheme that potentially spanned several years.
Darcy Adanna Esemonu — who sued Bauer and allegedly demanded $1.6 million after claiming he impregnated her — was charged with one count of fraudulent schemes and artifices on Monday.
Bauer and another man were listed as the alleged victims in the case weeks after a grand jury handed down the indictment. She was also charged with theft by extortion, but only against the other alleged victim.
The woman sued Bauer in December 2022, accusing him of rape two years earlier that she said resulted in pregnancy in late 2020.
Bauer Battling Several Accusations
Back in October of 2023, Bauer and Lindsey Hill, the San Diego woman who first accused him of sexual assault, which led to an unprecedented 324-game suspension from Major League Baseball, settled their civil lawsuits outside of court, with no money exchanged between the two parties.
But Bauer kept alleged receipts, and in a video posted to social media he points to an alleged extortion attempt by Hill.
Bauer Has Alleged Receipts
In the video Bauer gave the reasons why he agreed to settle with the Hill. He revealed text messages allegedly exchanged between Hill and her friends, which Bauer claims as proof that Hill plotted to extort him. Of the alleged messages from Hill stated, “Need daddy to choke me out,” another “Being an absolute WHORE to try to get in on his $51 million.
Hill accused Bauer of sexually assaulting her during two encounters in the spring of 2021. She was later denied a permanent restraining order in Los Angeles Superior Court, and the district attorney’s office declined to file criminal charges against Bauer. But MLB decided to suspend Bauer anyway.
Bauer sued Hill for defamation in April 2022, and she countersued for sexual battery four months later. Court proceedings were scheduled to begin in February, but both sides agreed to drop their respective cases.
Hill will receive $300,000 in insurance policy proceeds that will be sent in a trust account to her lawyers’ offices, according to an email from Hill’s lawyers that was provided by a representative with Bauer.
“Trevor Bauer and Lindsey Hill have settled all outstanding litigation,” Bauer’s attorneys, Jon Fetterolf and Shawn Holley, wrote in a statement on Monday. “Both of their respective claims have been withdrawn with prejudice, effective today. Mr. Bauer did not make — and never has made — any payments to Ms. Hill, including to resolve their litigation. With this matter now at rest, Mr. Bauer can focus completely on baseball.”
He Said She Said
Bauer also alleged in the YouTube video that Hill’s legal team approached him “multiple times” about a financial settlement that his side consistently declined. He also said that the defamation lawsuit allowed his legal team to uncover additional cellphone material that was “deliberately and unlawfully concealed” from his lawyers, most notably a video of the woman “lying in bed next to me while I’m sleeping, smirking at the camera without a care in the world — or any mark on her face” on the morning after the second alleged incident.
“Over the last two years, I’ve been forced to defend my integrity and my reputation in a very public setting, but hopefully this is the last time I have to do so, as I’d prefer to just remain focused on doing my job, winning baseball games and entertaining fans around the world,” Bauer said in his video. “So today, I’m happy to be moving on with my life,” Bauer said.
Bauer was never arrested or charged. He countersued, saying he had one consensual sexual encounter with the woman in 2020 and then accused her of faking the pregnancy to extort money from him.
His attorneys have said that the woman made several million-dollar demands against him.
Bauer said he ultimately paid $8,761 for expenses he believed to be related to the woman’s reported pregnancy and its subsequent termination.
The woman later said that she ultimately decided not to terminate the pregnancy, but had a miscarriage.
She is scheduled to be arraigned on the criminal charges next Friday.
In a recorded video statement released Tuesday, Bauer said he is innocent.
“What else do I have to do to prove that this entire situation has been a massive lie? This is insane,” he said. “At what point do I get to go back to work and continue earning a living?”
This wasn’t Bauer’s only accusation, but innocent until proven guilty should still be a standard of law in this country, even if the initial details seem horrible.
Bauer was released by the Los Angeles Dodgers in January 2023 and played last year with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Japan’s Pacific League. He pitched for a Mexican League team during the spring and is still trying to make his way back to the majors.
Let’s see if these latest turns of events help.
