Source: Mike Stobe / Getty
Le’Veon Bell is playing defense.
The former NFL player turned MAGA apologist was hit with a lawsuit in March 2024 by his cousin Jada Bell, which accused him —and his brother LaVonte— of repeatedly sexually abusing her as a minor for years.
Now, a year later, a jury in Ohio’s Franklin County has ruled that he must pay Jada $25 million in damages. The only problem for Bell is that he claims he was never served the papers and that the signature on the paperwork is forged.
He hopped on Twitch to tell his side of the story, saying he’d only known about the allegations for a few days.
“Jada Bell is my cousin… I just found out this was brewing up maybe about two days ago… when TMZ hit me up, they got my number,” he said.
He adds that after TMZ repeatedly texted him asking him to comment on a story but didn’t give him specifics, he eventually put them in touch with his lawyer, who then explained the accusations. A stunned Bell couldn’t believe it was his cousin making the claims.
“The same cousin that was at all my football games? The same cousin that was with me in Miami when I lived there and followed me everywhere? When I went to the Jets, I always wanted to come to the games,” he questioned. “It was a forged signature. I legit think people are legit after me.”
Bell says that Jada’s dad is in jail and her mom is an alcoholic, so he’s helped provide for her.
“I’m low-key taking care of her. I’m paying every bill. Paying for her to eat. She’s getting her hair done, her toes, all these clothes,” he said. “She was getting the same [perks] as everyone else around me. I paid for everything.”
But he says they fell out in 2022 when the money wasn’t rolling in like before, and they’ve been on the outs ever since she sent him an angry text.
“Do y’all think Le’Veon Bell, do I need to force myself upon a woman? Anybody? Do I need to force myself upon them? I don’t,” he says. “I put this on all my kids’ life, my mom’s life, I put this on everything; I never ever pushed myself on a girl when she ain’t want that sh-t,” Le’Veon said. “I’ve never forced myself on nobody. I got my pick of the litter.”
In the lawsuit, Jada says the sexual abuse started in 2006 and stopped when she turned 18 in 2017 and included “frequent returns to central Ohio during his college years and beyond.”
Documents added that the abuse “happened with such frequency as to habitualize the plaintiff to the abuse,” with Jada alleging that “age disparity, physical size, familial relations, access to her home, and grooming were used to force her to engage in these acts without her consent.”
In a statement to TMZ, his lawyers said Bell “adamantly” denied the allegations and said his client was never served.
See how social media is reacting to the lawsuit below.
