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Lawsuit claims developer Bill Hutchinson gave Texas woman incurable STD during sexual assaults

A lawyer for the developer and reality-TV star called the allegations “total malarkey.”

Updated at 5:10 p.m.: Revised to include a statement from Virgin Hotels.

Another woman has sued William Lewald “Bill” Hutchinson, alleging that the Dallas-area developer sexually assaulted her on two occasions last year and gave her a sexually transmitted disease.

The allegations were added to a lawsuit filed in July by a McLennan County woman who said Hutchinson, 63, sexually assaulted her in June 2020. The initial accuser, referred to as Jane Doe 1, expressed interest in a professional relationship with Hutchinson and repeatedly told him “no” before he assaulted her, the lawsuit says.

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The amended lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Dallas County, names Hutchinson, Dunhill Apartments, real-estate firm Dunhill Partners and Virgin Hotels Dallas as defendants. Both women are seeking damages of more than $1 million.

William Lewald “Bill” Hutchinson
William Lewald “Bill” Hutchinson(Highland Park Department of Public Safety)

An attorney for Hutchinson denied the allegations and questioned the new accuser’s motives.

“Bill is guilty of one thing: putting himself in the limelight,” Levi McCathern said in a written statement. “Anyone who takes the time to read the ‘facts’ as recited by the anonymous Jane Doe can see they are just total malarkey. The new allegations are a complete fabrication … solely to extract money from Bill Hutchinson.”

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Ana Lanzas, a Virgin Hotels spokeswoman, said in a written statement the company takes the allegations “extremely seriously” and that Hutchinson is no longer involved in “any active capacity” with Virgin Hotels Dallas. She said the company could not comment further because of “an active investigation.”

Representatives with Dunhill Apartments and Dunhill Partners did not immediately return requests for comment.

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Attorney Michelle Simpson Tuegel, who is representing the second accuser, said the woman tried to block out her experience and was initially afraid to take legal action because of Hutchinson’s wealth and status.

“It is very common for a woman who has been raped to try and block out the experience, using denial to just put the pain behind her so she can go about her life,” Simpson Tuegel said in a written statement. “But after Hutchinson raped this young woman a second time, and also gave her an STD, that denial eventually came crashing down. Fortunately, she reached out for help, and we intend to bring Hutchinson to justice, on behalf of every single one of his many victims.”

The lawsuit is in addition to criminal charges that Hutchinson faces in Texas and California.

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Hutchinson was arrested in July by Highland Park police on one count of sexual assault and later released on $30,000 bond. He is accused of assaulting a teenage girl at his home.

That same week, authorities in Orange County filed one felony count of rape and five misdemeanor counts of sexual battery against Hutchinson over allegations involving the same girl and another teen. He pleaded not guilty and was freed on $100,000 bond.

Hutchinson also has been sued by the family of the girl at the center of the criminal allegations.

New allegations

According to the lawsuit, the new accuser, a woman in her late 20s referred to as Jane Doe 3, moved to Dallas in 2020 for a job before she met Hutchinson.

At one point over the summer, she was at the Virgin Hotel in Dallas’ Design District having drinks with friends when some older men started hitting on her and Hutchinson inserted himself into the conversation, the lawsuit says.

During their conversation, Hutchinson asked the woman to give him her phone number so he could help her with business and social connections. Hutchinson said he owned the hotel and another prominent property. Feeling “pressured,” she gave him her number, the lawsuit says.

Later that summer, Hutchinson invited the woman to a party on the Virgin Hotel’s rooftop. During the party, she had a few alcoholic drinks and Hutchinson continued to scoot closer to her “to the point of discomfort.” At one point he put his hand on her thigh and she pushed him away, the lawsuit says.

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As the party started clearing out, Hutchinson told the woman that he and some friends were going back to a hotel room and asked her to pick up the room key from the reception desk and meet them there.

Believing that the group from the party would be in the hotel room, the woman picked up the key. But when she got to the room, Hutchinson was the only one inside, and she made it clear that she didn’t want a sexual relationship with him, the lawsuit says.

After she said “no” to his sexual advances, Hutchinson replied, “Oh well, you are already here,” the lawsuit says. Hutchinson “took advantage of the woman′s intoxicated state,” removed her clothes and performed sexual intercourse and other sexual acts without her consent, the lawsuit states.

“Jane Doe 3 tried for months to stuff down the shame, embarrassment, and trauma connected to Hutchinson’s sexual assault of her,” the lawsuit says. “She continued communicating with Hutchinson for a time after, because for her that was a way to disregard her own victimization as well. Hutchinson acted like nothing had happened after the assault.”

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Later that summer, the woman went to the Virgin Hotel pool with a friend and saw Hutchinson. After her friend left, she had dinner at the hotel’s restaurant with Hutchinson and his friends, where Hutchinson offered to get her a job at Dunhill Partners, the lawsuit says.

Jane Doe 3 had several alcoholic beverages at the pool and Hutchinson gave her several glasses of wine at the restaurant, the lawsuit says. She said she remembers being “unusually and heavily intoxicated” as the night progressed.

Later, Hutchinson took the woman to the Dunhill Apartments and sexually assaulted her, according to the lawsuit. She was not able to consent due to her intoxicated state, the lawsuit says.

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The woman experienced “severe physical pain” for days after the assault and later found out that she had contracted an incurable sexually transmitted disease, the lawsuit says.

After the assaults, the woman sought out counseling and mental health treatment and now takes anti-anxiety medications that she never previously needed, the lawsuit says.

Development and fame

Hutchinson’s real-estate firm, Dunhill Partners, is behind much of the renewed Design District, including the Virgin Hotels Dallas, which was developed through a partnership with Richard Branson. The firm manages more than 6 million square feet of shopping centers and hotels around the country.

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About a month before he was charged with sexual assault, Hutchinson announced he was stepping down as president of the company, saying it was a move he had been considering for several years.

After the criminal allegations came to light, Hutchinson said he was stepping down from his business roles at the Virgin Hotels Dallas and W Hotel “out of the best interest of all parties involved.”

The Dallas developer appeared on both seasons of the Lifetime reality-TV series Marrying Millions, which follows couples where one person is extremely wealthy and the other one isn’t. He was featured with his fiancé, who is 40 years younger than him. The couple met when she was 18 and waitressing at a Tex-Mex restaurant.