Dallas Cowboys and Jerry Jones’ family are front and center in the offseason. Why now?

The private lives of Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and his family are dominating the offseason after a lawsuit and a letter linked his daughter’s divorce case to an allegation that the billionaire had an affair and fathered a child.

Public records and recent media coverage detail allegations of extortion attempts, a multimillion-dollar settlement with the team’s cheerleaders after accusations of voyeurism by a former Cowboys official, and a lawsuit about a videotape of a sexual encounter involving one of Jones’ sons.

Until last month, most people had never heard of 25-year-old Alexandra Davis. She sued Jones, saying she is his daughter. Davis was born in 1996, the last year the Dallas Cowboys won the Super Bowl.

So, why is all this becoming public now?

The pending divorce of Jones’ daughter, Cowboys executive Charlotte Jones, and her estranged husband, David “Shy” Anderson, could be behind the effort. A letter from Jerry Jones’ attorneys to Anderson tried to connect him to recent scandals, including Davis’ lawsuit.

Jim Wilkinson, a spokesman for the Jones family, declined to comment on the divorce proceedings but said the recent news of the settlements, lawsuits and accusations are a public attack against the Jones family.

“Sadly this is all just part of a more broad calculated and concerted effort that has been going on for some time by multiple people with various different agendas,” he said. “This whole saga and series of recent attacks amount to nothing more than an amateurish coordination among various parties to try to shake down the Jones family for money.”

Davis’ attorneys vehemently deny any connection to Anderson and say Davis, who has never been able to legally declare she has a father, wants to be recognized by Jones.

“Alexandra is not conspiring with anyone to reveal the apparent multitude of Jerry Jones’ and Dallas Cowboys’ related scandals,” Davis’ attorneys said in a statement. “Alexandra does not know nor has she ever spoken to Shy Anderson, just as she never has her father.”

The connections

Davis’ lawsuit briefly mentions Charlotte Jones’ divorce from Anderson. Davis’ mother was subpoenaed to give a deposition in the divorce proceedings and was contacted by at least one person associated with Jerry Jones regarding that testimony, the lawsuit said.

Another possible link between the lawsuit and the divorce is a letter from one of Jerry Jones’ lawyers advising Anderson to save evidence and documentation “to determine whether a conspiracy exists among yourself and others including, without limitation, certain of your lawyers.”

The letter advises Anderson not to destroy or delete documents related to communication with Davis and her mother, “all efforts to obtain monies from Mr. Jones directly or indirectly” and “all efforts to obtain information you and/or your counsel consider embarrassing to Mr. Jones.”

One of Davis’ lawyers, Andrew Bergman, represented a woman identified as Jane Doe in a 2019 lawsuit about a videotape of a sexual encounter involving Jerry Jones Jr. Jane Doe sued Jones Jr., his wife, Anderson and other members of the Jones family. Anderson was removed as a defendant in the lawsuit, court records show, before the lawsuit was ultimately dismissed and a settlement was reached.

Bergman told The Dallas Morning News that Davis was referred to him and at least three other lawyers for her lawsuit. He said he went to law school with the person who referred Davis and believed that person has “some association” with Anderson.

“I didn’t get the case from Shy Anderson,” Bergman said. “I had sued Shy Anderson.”

Attorneys for Anderson did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Calculated or not, it is possible Davis’ lawsuit was spurred by the divorce proceedings, said Eric Cedillo, an attorney and clinical professor of law at Southern Methodist University.

Cedillo said it’s likely that there was no testimony on the record that alleges Jones is Davis’ father, and Jones’ lawyers wanted to prevent the information from the alleged agreement from being made public if Davis’ mother was subpoenaed. But there could always be more to the story, he said.

“You never know what you don’t know,” Cedillo said. “There could be all kinds of things happening behind the scenes. There could be things that we don’t currently know that haven’t been brought out yet.”

The Jones family

Little is known about the divorce proceedings between Anderson and Charlotte Jones, who married in 1991 and moved to Dallas later that decade. They have three children.

Court documents for the divorce proceedings could not be found in the Dallas County civil court records online system. A hearing in the case is scheduled for Monday.

A representative for the Jones family declined to comment on the divorce.

Jerry Jones — who married his wife, Gene, nearly 60 years ago — is the 79-year-old patriarch of the sports empire and shares the day-to-day operations with his family. His children, Charlotte Jones, Stephen Jones and Jerry Jones Jr., each hold executive positions.

The Dallas Cowboys are the world’s most valuable sports property, worth an estimated $5.7 billion in the latest Forbes rankings.

Jones has called his wife “the backbone of our family,” his “closest adviser” and his “best friend.” She was the force behind curating The Dallas Cowboys Art Collection, which expanded from AT&T Stadium to The Star, the team’s $1.5 billion, 91-acre complex in Frisco.

Stephen Jones, 57, is the club’s chief operating officer and executive vice president of player personnel. He’s been an integral part of the operation since his father purchased the franchise in February 1989. Stephen oversees all management aspects of the Cowboys and AT&T Stadium.

Charlotte Jones, 55, is the Cowboys’ executive vice president and chief brand officer and is acknowledged as one of the most powerful women in professional sports. She oversees the organization’s philanthropic outreach and had a key role in the design aesthetic and décor at AT&T Stadium. She is also president of the iconic Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders.

Jones Jr., 52, the youngest of the three children, is the club’s executive vice president and chief sales and marketing officer. He joined the Cowboys in 1996 and spent his initial years negotiating rookie contracts, local radio and television rights and sponsorship agreements. Jones Jr. now oversees a group that not only handles sales and marketing for the club, but the club’s thriving merchandising business.

Extended members of the Jones family also fill roles throughout the organization. Anderson once fit into that category.

Anderson worked for the Cowboys and was later named the chief operating officer of the Desperados, the organization’s entry into the Arena Football League. He oversaw the daily operations of the Desperados during the league’s seven-year existence. He’s been an investment manager at Hedgestone Investments and a private investor at TopGolf.

Jones paternity allegations

Jones’ court filings haven’t addressed whether he is Davis’ father. The lawsuit says Jones and Davis’ mother agreed on a settlement to financially support them as long as they didn’t publicly identify him as her father.

Breaching the agreement would result in financial support being cut off and Jones could sue, according to the lawsuit.

At the end of March, Jones’ lawyers argued in a court filing that Davis’ lawsuit was one of many “monetary extortion attempts” targeting Jones and the Dallas Cowboys.

Lawyers for the Cowboys owner said Davis delivered a draft of the lawsuit to Jones and offered to “make a deal” to prevent him from being identified as her father. The lawsuit was filed after Jones declined to pay, the court filing said.

Davis’ lawyers have repeatedly denied the extortion allegations.

“We challenge Mr. Jones to publicly deny that Alexandra is his daughter,” they said in a statement. “We challenge Mr. Jones to produce any evidence that Alexandra has attempted to extort him. We challenge Mr. Jones to deny that he attempted to bind a child to a written agreement preventing her from informing people who her father is.”

Davis’ lawyers, Bergman and Jay Gray, said they wrote a letter to Jones in January on Davis’ behalf offering a “simple and quick” procedure for legal parentage. The letter said that “no one was trying to embarrass or harass him, or publicize a private family matter” and that Davis “simply asked to be recognized by her father.”

A lawyer who helped make payments on Jones’ behalf to Davis and her mother said millions were paid to them.

According to the lawsuit, Jones’ friend and lawyer Donald Jack helped carry out the agreement. Jack said in a statement that in addition to an initial $375,000 paid to Davis’ mother, the agreement said Jones would provide monthly payments for child support that totaled more than $2 million, plus additional payments and the cost of Davis’ education at SMU.

Jack’s statement alleged that Davis asked for an additional $20 million at a meeting he had at a Dallas restaurant with her and her mother several years ago.

“In that meeting, Alex read to me a personal letter she had drafted to Jerry Jones in which she expressed her dissatisfaction with what she had received and sought $20 million,” Jack said. “She stated that if this amount was paid, she would not bother Mr. Jones again and would keep their relationship confidential.”

Bergman said Davis, who works for U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson, wrote a letter to Jones about six years ago as part of a therapy exercise. He said that he has not seen the letter and that Davis does not have a copy of the letter and can’t recall everything she wrote.

“She read the letter to Don Jack, who she has grown up referring to as Uncle Jack and who was staying at the Davis’ home during that very trip,” Bergman said. “That letter they are referencing was written by a teenage girl with the active assistance of her therapist in an attempt to deal psychologically with Mr. Jones’ abandonment and refusal to even meet with her.”

Wilkinson, the Jones family spokesman, said Jack did not mention in his statement that the letter was part of a therapy exercise. Wilkinson declined to provide a copy of the letter.

“Money has always been the ultimate goal here,” Wilkinson said, “and this was a clear and simple $20 million shakedown attempt.”

Recorded sexual encounter

Another lawsuit filed a few years ago in Dallas County involving a Jones family member also has a connection to Davis’ lawsuit.

A lawsuit filed in October 2019 alleges that still images from a video of a sexual encounter involving Jones Jr. and a woman were distributed to the woman’s family and friends by Jones Jr., his wife Lori Jones, Charlotte Jones, Shy Anderson and another man.

The woman, identified as Jane Doe, sought $1 million in damages. Her attorney listed in the lawsuit is Bergman, who represents Davis.

According to court documents, Jane Doe had an on-and-off romantic relationship with Jones Jr. for about 20 years. During one encounter, the lawsuit said Jones Jr. videotaped himself and the woman while they had sex.

The woman consented to being recorded as long as the video was deleted after they parted ways, court documents said. Jones Jr. told the woman he had deleted the video, according to the lawsuit.

After the relationship ended, Jane Doe was contacted by a friend who said she received three photos in the mail of the woman and Jones Jr. having sexual relations, the lawsuit said.

The woman confronted Jones Jr., the lawsuit said. Jones Jr. told the woman that he did not delete the video and his wife, Lori Jones, found it, according to court documents.

The photographs showed up again after a man told Jane Doe that he received them on his phone via text from Anderson, according to court documents. The woman contacted Charlotte Jones, who told Jane Doe that she had received the photos in the mail and shared them with Anderson, according to the lawsuit.

Anderson was removed from the lawsuit at Jane Doe’s request in November 2019. Court records show Jones Jr., his wife and Charlotte Jones denied the allegations.

In October 2020, the woman requested that the lawsuit be dismissed. A settlement was reached but Bergman declined to disclose the amount.

A representative for the Jones family declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Voyeurism allegations

A multimillion-dollar settlement the Cowboys reached more than five years ago came to light in February after being first reported by ESPN.

The Dallas Cowboys paid $2.4 million after four team cheerleaders alleged Rich Dalrymple, the franchise’s longtime public relations chief who retired Feb. 2, filmed them as they changed clothes inside a locker room on Sept. 2, 2015.

The team was told about the incident that day and launched an investigation. No related photos or videos were found on Dalrymple’s phone.

The other allegation of voyeurism and Dalrymple involved Charlotte Jones on April 30, 2015. Dalrymple was accused of being seen on video taking photos up her skirt in the draft-day war room.

The Cowboys’ human resources department looked into the allegation in May 2015, a team source told The News. HR found no wrongdoing by Dalrymple after reviewing the video.

Divorce proceedings

Charlotte Jones and Anderson’s divorce is scheduled for trial this week in a Dallas County courtroom.

Court records and the people involved in various lawsuits and incidents within the Jones family tie the divorce to other happenings, but it’s unclear how much, if anything, will be revealed about those connections in court.

The family successfully asked a judge to seal the divorce file. Davis’ lawsuit was originally sealed, but Jerry Jones’ lawyers stopped requesting that it remain private after The News reported the contents of the lawsuit before it was sealed.

With just days before the trial, it’s also possible Charlotte Jones and Anderson will reach a settlement and the case won’t be heard in a public courtroom. And the public may still be wondering why this is all coming out now.

Staff writer David Moore contributed to this report.