Sig Hansen’s Brother Edgar Slams Daughter’s Sex Abuse Claims As ‘Terrible Lies’
March 21 2017, Published 8:17 p.m. ET
Sig Hansen’s brother and Deadliest Catch costar is jumping to his defense.
Days after the 50-year-old fisherman’s estranged daughter Melissa Eckstrom, 28, emerged with sex abuse allegations, Edgar Hansen shut down the claims as “terrible lies.”
“There is never any doubt that Sig is a great guy and a wonderful father,” Edgar, 46, said in a statement. “He is absolutely innocent of any of these terrible lies.”
Echoing Sig’s accusations that his daughter and ex-wife, Lisa, plotted a “shakedown” to extort him for money, Edgar called the lawsuit a “set up.”
“This has been a set up from the very beginning,” he continued. “We thought this nightmare was over after Sig was cleared in a court of law, but sickeningly, that was just the beginning.”
“Over nearly 30 years, Lisa Eckstrom and her family have come after Sig and our family three times, trying to smear our good name and get our money. Now, they wait until the guy has a heart attack, and then kick him when he’s down. That’s the very definition of evil.”
(Sig suffered a heart attack on the set of his Discovery Channel show last summer.)
As RadarOnline.com previously reported from court documents, Melissa claimed her father repeatedly sexually abused her when she was just two years old.
“Daddy put his finger in my potty pot,” she allegedly told her mother in newly uncovered police reports.
Sig was never charged regarding the allegations. He vehemently denied all claims in a statement to RadarOnline.com.
“I’m a pretty plain-spoken guy, and to me, this is nothing more than a shakedown,” he said. “The allegations are completely false, rehashed lies my ex-wife Lisa Eckstrom used nearly 30 years ago to take away my daughter, and has continued to try to use to extort money from me.
“The fact is, decades ago I was exonerated of these allegations after a full court trial. My ex-wife Lisa took me – and worst of all, my parents – to court for this back in 1990, making these baseless claims. We were fully exonerated after a prosecuting attorney, a judge, court-appointed experts, a guardian ad litem and team of other child experts all agreed that these claims were pure fiction. I cooperated 100 percent, including taking a polygraph test that also confirmed my innocence.”
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Like Edgar, the Discovery Channel is also standing by Sig.
“A court reviewed the facts 25 years ago and found there was no merit to the allegations,” a rep for the network told RadarOnline.com. “Out of respect for the family and all those involved, we will refrain from commenting any further. This does not impact the show.”
The Deadliest Catch’s 13th season premieres on April 11.
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