Former Minnesota Vikings star running back Dalvin Cook offered $1 million to a former girlfriend to clear him of wrongdoing despite her previously sworn abuse allegations against him, according to a document filed in Dakota County District Court.
Court filing: Ex-Viking Dalvin Cook offered ex-girlfriend $1 million to absolve him of wrongdoing
A sealed court filing says Cook wanted the woman to drop assault accusations in exchange for cash, but she declined.
July 20, 2023 at 7:05PM
The revelation came in a now-sealed filing by Gracelyn Trimble's attorney. The document was filed in opposition to Cook's request to bar testimony at trial of his cash settlement offers of $800,000 and then $1 million.
Cook's initial offer of $800,000 came with a requirement that Trimble sign a sworn affidavit denying abuse claims, the document said. But Trimble has already testified under oath that Cook physically abused her. The $1 million offer required Trimble to send a letter — not sworn testimony — to the NFL absolving Cook of wrongdoing.
Attorney Daniel Cragg wrote that Cook's initial cash offer was "not only evidence of a crime" but admissible at trial to show he tried to coax Trimble to perjure herself by changing her sworn testimony.
"This does not pass the smell test, and can and should be admissible as evidence of Cook's consciousness of guilt," Cragg's filing read. The Star Tribune obtained a copy of the document Thursday, hours before it was sealed by Dakota County Judge Jamie Cork.
Trimble's personal injury lawsuit against Cook is set for trial in front of Cork next year. A hearing on the recent filing is set for Monday. Lawyers for Cook and Trimble did not comment.
Cook, who was released by the Vikings in June after six seasons, remains a free agent. In November 2021, Trimble filed a lawsuit against Cook alleging physical and emotional abuse. He then filed a defamation lawsuit against her in Hennepin County. Both cases are pending.
In a deposition, Cook said he was aware his lawyers had initially offered Trimble $800,000 in May to provide a sworn affidavit exonerating him of wrongdoing, the filing said.
After Trimble's lawyer told Cook's counsel that she wouldn't sign a "fraudulent affidavit," his lawyers increased the offer a few hours later to $1 million. That higher offer required Trimble to sign a letter to the NFL "relieving Mr. Cook of a wrongdoing" in language to be negotiated. Trimble rejected the second offer as well.
Cragg's latest filing also describes Trimble's sworn allegations against Cook, saying that after he threw her over a couch and into a coffee table, her forehead and nose gushed blood. When she went upstairs to wash off the blood, Cook followed her, threw her down, pinned her, punched and choked her then grabbed his rifle, pointed it at her head and yelled death threats, the filing said.
At one point, he grabbed a broomstick and beat her before throwing her against a wall. When she fell to the ground, Cook continued to kick her in the hips and ribs before she got up and ran down the driveway in search of help, but he led her back to the house and took her phone, the filing said.
Police were not called to his Inver Grove Heights home in the incident on Nov. 19, 2020, when Trimble has said she flew to Minnesota to break up with Cook and get her things from his house.
According to her initial lawsuit, Cook and Trimble met on a Florida beach in 2018 and began an off-and-on, sometimes rocky relationship.
Correction: A previous version of the story misstated the date of the incident between Dalvin Cook and his girlfriend. The incident occurred in November 2020.
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