Former Chicago Cubs star, Ben Zobrist, has accused a pastor of carrying out an extramarital affair with his wife while he was counselling the pair.

In a civil complaint filed in Tennessee, Mr Zobrist accused the senior pastor at Community Bible Church in Nashville,  Byron Yawn, of taking advantage of his wife, Julianna Zobrist. He also accuses Yawn of defrauding Zobrist's charity, Patriot Forward.

The civil complaint details: "The defendant secretly maintained a sexually intimate relationship with the plaintiff's wife for the remainder of 2019 and into the spring of 2020, all the while concealing it from the plaintiff, his counselee."

Yawn also allegedly became involved in Zobrist’s charity, Patriot Forward, "as an excuse to meet with the Plaintiff's wife" toward the end of 2018." Mr Yawn also became an Executive Director at the charity and proposed a budget with a $36,000 (£25,774) annual salary for himself, according to the complaint.

He was fired shortly after the budget was proposed but stands accused of fraudulently receiving salary checks from March to May 2019.

Ben Zobrist is seeking $6 million (£4.3 million) in damages in the complaint, NBC News reported.

Christopher Bellamy, Yawn's attorney, told the network: "At the end of the day, any woman, including the woman involved here, has the right to choose who she wants to be with."

Bellamy also confirmed that the pastor no longer belonged to the Community Bible Church.