Blackmail

[SteveFive]

My 27 year old brother called me with what seems to be a big problem. He was at a friends house drinking till late. His friends have been watching their troubled teen niece who is 2 months shy of being 17. She moved in with them cause they thought it would be better to get her away of the problems she was having in New Jersey. Well what he tells me is the two ended up making out at the end of the night. Well he gets a call from his friend today saying the girl says he pined her down and kissed and felt her. And they said there was two options he could chose from. First one they go to the police and he can go to jail second, he could pay them cash to keep their mouths shut. Then said he'd call tomorrow at 4pm with a number. What should he do I believe him when he says he didn't force her to do anything. He called me in the morning telling me he was extremely embarrassed about kissing her and that was before the call from he buddy came. He's in the state of NY. What do you suggest?