Bo Jackson awarded $21 million in Georgia blackmail, stalking case
Newsy
The former MLB and NFL star's niece and nephew allegedly threatened to disclose private information about Jackson unless he paid them.
Former professional baseball and football player Vincent “Bo” Jackson, a running back who won the Heisman Trophy at Auburn, has won a $21 million verdict in his civil case against his niece and nephew for trying to extort him.
The Feb. 2 decision included a permanent protective order barring Thomas Lee Anderson and his sister, Erica M. Anderson Ross, from further bothering or contacting Jackson and his immediate family members. The Andersons also must stay at least 500 yards from the Jacksons and remove from social media any content about them, news outlets reported.
The lawsuit, filed in April, alleged that Jackson's relatives tried to extort $20 million from him through harassment and intimidation.
“Unfortunately for those attempting to extort $20 million from Jackson and his family, Bo still hits back hard,” Jackson’s attorneys — Robert Ingram and David Conley — said Monday in a news release about the case.
Jackson, 61, claimed the harassment started in 2022 and included threatening social media posts and messages, public allegations that put him in a false light, and public disclosure of private information intended to cause him severe emotional distress, WSB-TV reported. He said Thomas Anderson wrote on Facebook that he would release photos, text and medical records of Jackson to “show America” that he wasn’t playing around, the lawsuit alleged.
