NHL 'looking into' allegations that Oilers owner paid underage girl for sexual encounter

In case you missed yesterday's bombshell news report from the CBC, Edmonton Oilers owner Daryl Katz has been implicated in a sex scandal with an underage girl.

The then-53 year old Katz is alleged to have paid upwards of $75,000 for a sexual encounter with then-17 year old aspiring ballerina Sage Humphries. In text messages revealed by the CBC... well... I'll just say it... Katz comes off like a total creep.

I mean... just check these out:

Katz is implicated, but not the focus of an investigation into the alleged sexual charges against former Boston Ballet instructor Mitchell Taylor Button and his partner Dusty Button who are alleged to have run an underage sex ring of aspiring dancers.

The lawsuit makes a number of unsubstantiated allegations about Katz, Humphries, and her family.

"Humphries was literally a child prostitute to a billionaire," the claim says, "and her mother assisted her in laundering the money she was paid and in trafficking her to Katz."

Katz, through his lawyer Robert Klieger, has responded to the allegations and claims that he never had a sexual relationship with the teenaged Humphries. Instead, Katz claims that the $75,000 he sent to her was part of a film investment project that went nowhere.

“Sage had a business relationship with Mr. Katz and there was never any sexual relationship between them,” said Klieger to NBC News.

"One of Daryl's friends connected him with Sage because Sage was working with some producing partners on shopping a motion picture project that they had put together, basically, and it was based in the ballet world," said Klieger. 

"They ultimately decided to pass on the project. But during the period of time that the project was under consideration, they asked for some help to keep with the funding of the project to keep it going. And that's the $75,000 that is at issue," said Klieger to the CBC.

“Mr. Katz will vigorously defend his reputation against these baseless and scurrilous claims and will seek sanctions and damages against both the Buttons and their counsel for this frivolous and malicious attack on his character,” Klieger maintains.

Humphries, now 23 years old, is speaking out against abuse in the ballet industry.

This, of course, is not the first time that Katz has been implicated in a sex for hire scandal. Back in 2017 professional gambler R.J. Cipriani filed a defamation suit against Katz alleging that Katz propositioned Cipriani's wife, model and actress Greice Santo, during a Hawaii photo shoot, offering her $20,000 a day for sex. Katz allegedly wired Santo a total of $35,000 — money she later donated to charity after rejecting the arrangement.

Needless to say, this is not the offseason news that Oilers fans had been expecting. 

In a statement, the NHL said today, “We became aware this week of the civil lawsuit in which Mr. Katz is named as a third party by the defendants in the lawsuit. Mr. Katz has advised us that he categorically denies the allegations. We are in the process of looking into the matter.”