BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Darius Pridgen is looking to get reimbursement after being accused of sexual abuse, the claims of which he says were later retracted by the accuser.

In court documents filed Tuesday, Pridgen’s counsel requested payment from the accuser and her legal team for attorney fees and other expenses incurred as a result of her complaint. He’s not only seeking payment, but a dismissal of the original complaint, too.

Last month, a lawsuit claimed Pridgen abused an alleged parishioner of True Bethel Baptist Church, where Pridgen, the president of Buffalo’s Common Council, serves as pastor. The church was also named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

Filed pursuant to the Adult Survivors Act, the lawsuit accused Pridgen of abusing the woman “in or about 2020.” According to the document, the alleged abuse occurred approximately seven times after church services.

News 4 has chosen not to name the plaintiff in this lawsuit due to the nature of the accusations.

Pridgen, when asked about the lawsuit, claimed he didn’t know the woman named as the accuser. Days later, Pridgen told News 4 that he spoke with her and that she allegedly told him the accusations weren’t true.

“To hear her say these words that they didn’t do it, it was the right thing to do,” Pridgen said. “And she has said those words to me personally.”

“In reference to this lawsuit and the allegations contained therein, Plaintiff told the
Buffalo News, referring to this lawsuit, ‘I don’t know nothing about it. It didn’t happen on my
behalf. Honest to God.’ ‘I feel bad. That’s crazy to put my name over all that. I don’t like that,'” the court document filed Tuesday says.

Pridgen even said that not only he, but no one in his church recognized the woman’s name.

The new court document contains 17 affirmative defenses, and Pridgen’s counsel says more could be filed until investigation and discovery in the case is complete.