Houston Texans minority owner faces rape charges in Kentucky

Javier Loya, a minority owner for the NFL’s Houston Texans, is facing multiple criminal charges, including one charge for rape in Kentucky. 

NBC Sports’s Pro Football Talk reported Monday that Loya is facing multiple counts stemming from an arrest warrant issued earlier in May, according to a clerk of criminal courts in Jefferson County, Ky.

The charges include one count of first-degree rape, five counts of first-degree sexual abuse, and one count of third-degree sexual abuse. 

In a statement to NBC Sports, a Texans’ spokesperson said the team is aware of the allegations against Loya. 

“We are aware of the serious charges filed in the Commonwealth of Kentucky against Javier Loya, one of our outside limited partners,” the team spokesperson said. “We have agreed with Mr. Loya that while these charges are pending, he will remove himself entirely from any team or League activities.”

NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy told The Hill the Texans “promptly notified the league of the serious pending charges against Mr. Loya after they were filed.” 

“Mr. Loya has not been permitted to participate in any league or club activity during this process. He is no longer on any league committees,” McCarthy added. 

Loya, the co-founder and CEO of OTC Global Holdings LP, has been a minority owner of the Texans since the team entered the league in 2002, according to NBC Sports.

This comes a month after NFL owners unanimously voted to approve the sale of the Commanders from Dan Snyder to a group led by private-equity billionaire and D.C.-area native Josh Harris. 

The NFL also fined Snyder $60 million as a result of an investigation conducted by former U.S. Attorney and Securities and Exchange Commission Chairwoman Mary Jo White on the former owner of the team. 

White’s investigation concluded Snyder sexually harassed former team employee Tiffani Johnston and that the team also withheld $11 million in league revenue that should’ve been shared with other teams, adding that Snyder, who purchased the team in 1999, was aware of the executive’s efforts to minimize its revenue sharing obligations.