According to CBS News, a Texas judge has ordered Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones to take a paternity test amid a legal battle with a 26-year-old woman. The woman, Alexandra Davis, claims Jones is her biological father.
Jones’ attorneys declined to provide an immediate public response, but court records indicate they plan to appeal the decision, according to CBS News.
Davis filed a paternity lawsuit against Jones in early March, and while he is yet to admit to being Davis’ father, an attorney for Jones admitted less than a month later that the Cowboys’ owner paid millions to Davis and her mother, Cynthia Spencer Davis.
In a statement, Jones’ attorney, Don Jack, told ESPN.com that since Alexandra’s birth on December 16, 1996, he had regularly given money to the two Davis wives on Jones’ behalf.
“On numerous occasions I have made payments to Cindy and Alex Davis on behalf of Mr. Jones,” Jack said.
Jack also noted that he gave Cynthia Davis a $375,000 lump sum payment in 1995, and also revealed that Jones gave Cynthia Davis “a total of over $2 million in monthly child support payments.”
According to Jack, the Cowboys’ owner created two foundations to help fund Alexandra Davis’s upbringing, as those foundations have disbursed more than $1.2 million over the past 25 years. According to ESPN, Alexandra Davis is expected to receive two more payments from the trusts, one coming when she turns 26 and another when she turns 28.
Alongside the trust, Jack claims that Jones also footed the bill for several extravagant items, including a $70,000 Range Rover given to Alexandra Davis for her 16th birthday. That same year, Jones also spent $33,000 to help host a “Sweet 16” birthday party. The Cowboys owner also spent nearly $50,000 on two major foreign trips for Alexandra Davis. One trip was a Christmas vacation with her mother in Paris, where Jones reportedly brought in $25,000. The other vacation was a trip abroad she took after graduating from college. Jones reportedly contributed $24,000 to this trip.
In a March 28 court filing, Jones requested that the paternity suit be dropped because the Cowboys’ owner called it an attempt at extortion. Jones spokesman Jim Wilkinson described the lawsuit as a money robbery.
Wilkinson and Jack claimed that Davis’ original plan was to get $20 million from Jones, and they made that claim at a dinner a few years ago.
“At that meeting, Alex read me a personal letter she had written to Jerry Jones expressing her dissatisfaction with what she had received and requesting $20 million,” Jack said. “She stated that if that amount were paid, she would no longer bother Mr. Jones and would keep their relationship confidential.”
Alexandra Davis’ attorney, Andrew A. Bergman, claimed that no such demand was made.
“Let’s see the letter,” Bergman said Thursday. “And let’s look at the evidence that more money was paid on top of those agreements. And I would ask why? Does Jerry say money is a substitute for being a father? Do the millions make him a good father and make my client a blackmailer? Don’t forget that the money was contingent on her keeping quiet.”
According to Alexandra Davis’ lawsuit, filed March 3, the $375,000 given to her mother was actually hush money to buy her to remain silent about the identity of Alexandra Davis’ real father.
Alexandra Davis filed a paternity lawsuit because she was forced to comply with a confidentiality agreement signed by her mother. Alexandra Davis was one year old when the agreement was signed, and she wanted the court to rule that she should no longer be bound by it. She also wants to be able to acknowledge Jones as her father.
“It’s hard to imagine what could be less in a child’s best interest than pushing it through [confidentiality] Agreements that leave a child without a father and that prevent or legally penalize a child from even disclosing who their father is,” their ESPN.com lawsuit reads.
According to the paternity lawsuit, Alexandra Davis only wants one father she can acknowledge.
“The combined effects of the above [confidentiality] Agreements and Cynthia’s divorce proceedings resulted in the plaintiff never having a legitimate father,” the lawsuit reads. Defendant Jones’ only role in plaintiff’s life, aside from avoiding her, was to coerce her into ever revealing his identity.
The Jones camp does not buy this explanation.
“The facts clearly show that millions of dollars were paid,” Wilkinson said, “and on top of that a $20 million shakedown attempt was made. I think that speaks for itself in terms of motives.”
Alexandra Davis, who currently works as an assistant to US Representative Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), has not yet publicly commented on the lawsuit.
For his part, Jones was asked about the lawsuit at the NFL’s annual league meeting last week, and he ducked the question.
“This is personal,” he said via the Dallas Morning News. “This is personal.”
The next court date in the case is still pending.
