Antonio Brown, Resolute Attention Seeker, Faces Serious Scrutiny

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More than 3.7 million people follow the Patriots’ Antonio Brown on Instagram, and a fair chunk of them do, presumably, not just because he is one of the best receivers playing the country’s most popular sport.

Brown, 31, is now ensnared in a maelstrom, with the attention that he draws as an athlete spotlighting a federal lawsuit that accuses him of sexual assault and rape, while also bringing more scrutiny to the N.F.L.’s handling of reports of violence against women.

A woman who had worked as Brown’s trainer is the plaintiff in the lawsuit, which was filed on Tuesday. The woman, a former gymnast named Britney Taylor who met Brown about 10 years ago when they were…