Champion former rugby league player Johnathan Thurston and his long-time manager, controversial player agent Sam Ayoub, are embroiled in an explosive lawsuit involving a former employee who has accused Ayoub of serious sexual misconduct and Thurston of allegedly ignoring the behaviour. Samantha Johnson, the former general manager of the Johnathan Thurston Academy (JT Academy, JTA), has launched action with the Queensland Human Rights Commission, claiming she was mistreated after her romantic relationship with the married Ayoub broke down. Ayoub and Thurston have “emphatically” denied the allegations, and lawyers acting for the pair claim Johnson was motivated by malice and had attempted to extort the academy and its directors before and after her employment was terminated in November 2022. With education and wellbeing programs designed to tackle youth unemployment in disadvantaged communities, the JT Academy has been backed by more than $10 million in taxpayer money over the past seven years, but no longer receives federal government funding. But behind the scenes, it has been engulfed by the messy dispute, which also includes a claim that Johnson, 51, was sacked from the academy after raising the allegations about Ayoub, before being paid $20,000 in a deed of settlement.