An up-and-coming soccer star flooded with top-notch scholarship offers left the sport for good after he allegedly endured hazing from teammates so pervasive and cruel that he tried to end his life, according to a bombshell $100 million lawsuit.
Jeff Dewsnup, now 22, was just 17 when he played goalkeeper for Real Salt Lake in the United Soccer League, and regularly faced puerile taunts from his adult team members, who ridiculed the size of his penis, waved their genitals at him and pelted his rear-end with soccer balls, the suit alleges.
Despite being courted with scholarship offers from elite schools like Stanford, Columbia, Princeton and Wake Forest, and interest from pro teams like Fulham, Crystal Palace and PSV Eindhoven, the alleged abuse got so bad he quit the sport he loved in April 2022.
His suit, filed last week in Utah’s Third District Court against RSL, the US Soccer Federation and Major League Soccer, claims he now suffers from PTSD and will need $20 million worth of psychiatric care to put his life back together.
The additional $80 million he’s seeking is to compensate him for the professional career he lost as a result of the abuse.
“Plaintiff seeks to hold defendants accountable for … committing intentional acts of abuse that destroyed [his] career and caused him to attempt suicide,” read the lawsuit obtained by DailyMail.
Dewsnup comes from a wealthy and successful family, who owns 2,221 acres of land in the Utah mountains valued at some $1.2 million.
His sister, Abby Johnson, is a popular author of Mormon-themed literature, and his father, Darin, is managing director for investments at Wells Fargo’s Salt Lake City office with over $2 billion in assets under management.
Among the salacious allegations in the suit were that older RSL teammates tormented him in the locker room, exposing themselves and making sexual comments toward the then-teen.
“They repeatedly attempted to hit [Dewsnup’s] naked buttocks with a ball, laughing and taunting him when he expressed discomfort. [Dewsnup] was forced to dodge the ball while naked,” the complaint reads, noting the abuse was so pervasive he would wait up to two hours after practices to use the showers to avoid his teammates.
The suit also complains that coaches were part of the problem, and frequently taunted him in front of the team for nursing an injured shoulder, which Dewsnup said he was forced to play with, exacerbating the injury.
RSL’s goalkeeping coach Ignacio Hernandez allegedly “mishandled” Dewsnup’s foot and hip injuries, the suit claims.
One of the allegations in the suit is that RSL failed to adequately protect an underage player from grotesque sexual abuse at the hands of much-older teammates.
“RSL placed its own financial and reputational interests above [Dewsnup’s] safety, intentionally sacrificing a minor child’s well being to avoid the inconvenience and expense of implementing child protection measures,” the lawsuit details.
Just before he quit the team in April 2022, Dewsnup tried to kill himself over the trauma and was rushed to a hospital, according to court documents.
RSL has denied the allegations and claimed the team took the safety of its players “extremely seriously.”
“The club is aware of a complaint filed by a former professional player and firmly denies the allegations,” it said in a statement to the Mail, pledging to “vigorously defend itself through the legal process.”
MLS told the outlet it was reviewing the “serious” allegations, and that “player safety and well-being are core priorities for the League.”