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Jimmie Allen‘s former manager has agreed to dismiss her lawsuit claiming the country singer sexually assaulted her, ending the case less than a year after it was filed.
In court papers filed Thursday (Mar. 14), attorneys for Allen and his unnamed Jane Doe accuser — his former day-to-day manager — jointly asked a federal judge to dismiss her claims against the country singer. In the same filing, Allen also agreed to drop his counter-suit accusing the woman of defamation.
Jane Doe’s attorney, Beth Fegan at the law firm FeganScott, confirmed the agreement to Billboard: “FeganScott can confirm that Jane Doe and Jimmie Allen have reached a mutual accord as to Plaintiff’s claims and Mr. Allen’s counterclaims and have agreed to dismiss them The decision reflects only that both parties desire to move past litigation.”
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A rep for Allen did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Though the claims against Allen will be dropped, the case will continue against management firm Wide Open Music, where the Jane Doe plaintiff was employed, and its founder, Ash Bowers. In her lawsuit, the accuser says Wide Open and Bowers didn’t do enough to protect their employee from Allen’s abusive behavior and fired her when she complained about it.
The agreement also won’t fully end Allen’s legal woes. The country star will continue to face a second lawsuit, filed by another Jane Doe, who claims that the singer assaulted her in a Las Vegas hotel room and secretly recorded it. That case remains pending.
Allen was a rising star in the country music world at the start of last year, but in May and June he was hit with the pair of sexual abuse lawsuits in quick succession. Following the accusations, his label, booking agency, former publicist and management company all suspended or dropped him.
The first case, filed on May 11, alleged that Allen had “manipulated and used his power” over the woman on his management team to “sexually harass and abuse her” over a period of 18 months that elapsed from 2020 to 2022.
“Plaintiff expressed in words and actions that Jimmie Allen’s conduct was unwelcome, including pushing him away, sitting where he could not reach her, telling him she was uncomfortable and no, and crying uncontrollably,” the woman’s lawyers wrote in the complaint. “However, Allen made clear that plaintiff’s job was dependent on her staying silent about his conduct.”
The second lawsuit, filed on June 9, accused Allen of battery, assault and other wrongdoing over an alleged July 2022 incident at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas. Though the Jane Doe in that case says she had “willingly joined Allen in the bedroom,” she claimed she had “repeatedly told him she did not want him to ejaculate inside her” because she was not on birth control, but that Allen had done so anyway. She also claimed that he had secretly filmed the encounter on his phone despite the fact that she had “not consented to being recorded”
Allen strongly denied all the accusations, saying he would “mount a vigorous defense.” He later counter-sued both women — accusing the management employee of defaming him and claiming that the other woman had stolen the phone he allegedly used to record her.
Trigger warning: the following story contains descriptions of sexual assault.
Former Drake & Josh star Drake Bell details his alleged sexual abuse at the hands of his former childhood dialogue coach Brian Peck in the new Investigation Discovery docuseries Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the four-part show dives into the toxic work environment at Nickelodeon on sets run by Dan Schneider, who created such hit programs as Drake & Josh, The Amanda Show, Zoey 101, iCarly, Victorious and Sam & Cat, iconic kids’ programs that launched the careers of such superstars as Ariana Grande, Amanda Bynes, Kenan Thompson, Victoria Justice and more.
In the series, Bell shares the details of his alleged abuse by Peck — who was convicted of sexually assaulting a Nickelodeon child actor in 2004 — for the first time, including allegations of abuse, sexism, racism and inappropriate behavior involving underage stars and crew and alleged predatory behavior at the network. The series will premiere over two nights on ID on March 17 and 18.
In the third episode, Bell graphically recounts the alleged grooming and sexual abuse he suffered at Peck’s hands when he was 14- and 15-years-old. The series reveals that when Peck was accused of molesting a child in 2003 and later convicted of a lewd act against a child and oral copulation of a person under 16 — resulting in a 16-month sentence and registration as a sex offender — it was then-15-year-old All That and The Amanda Show star Bell who was at the center of the criminal case and conviction.
Bell describes waking up on Peck’s couch one morning to the dialogue coach “sexually assaulting me. I froze and was in complete shock,” he says. “I had no idea what to do or how to react.” The series reportedly claims that Peck manipulated Bell’s mother and other adults to allow him “free rein” with the minor,” with Bell describing the abuse getting “worse and worse and worse and… worse, and I was just trapped and I had no way out.”
According to People, Bell, now 37, says he became close to Peck because they had “a lot of the same interests,” which he now realizes was “a bit calculated” on the part of his adult coach, who would often invite Bell to his house for acting lessons.
The abuse stopped after the mother of Bell’s then girlfriend asked why Peck wouldn’t stop calling the young actor that Bell began therapy, though at the time he was not yet ready to share his secret. “Then I realized it was so calculated. You (Peck) moved all the pieces into place. The whole thing was mental manipulation,” Bell said of the behavior by the dialogue coach, who appeared on screen as the character “Pickle Boy.”
People reported that Peck later became Bell’s manager, which caused a rift between the actor and his father, who was concerned about Peck accompanying Bell on auditions an hour away from where the young actor lived with his mother, sometimes necessitating overnight stays at Peck’s home.
Bell finally went to the police in 2003 and told his mother about the abuse, which included a “brutal” interview with two detectives in which Bell had to call Peck to get the coach to admit his guilt on a tapped phone line.
Soon after, Bell says, Schneider phoned him asking if the case was tied to the young actor. Feeling close to the boss, Bell says he confirmed the case was about him, at which point Schneider allegedly responded, “‘You don’t need to talk anymore about it. That’s all I needed to hear. Are you okay? Do you need anything from me? Anything you need.” Bell, who would then go on to topline his Drake & Josh series, says he doesn’t recall any other Nickelodeon executive reaching out to him at the time. Bell, who says his life was upended by the abuse, says in the series he began drinking and using drugs in the aftermath and in 2021 pleaded guilty to two charges tied to his online interactions with an underage fan; he was sentenced to two years’ probation and community service.
“Now that Drake Bell has disclosed his identity as the plaintiff in the 2004 case, we are dismayed and saddened to learn of the trauma he has endured, and we commend and support the strength required to come forward,” Nickelodeon said in a statement to THR.
The series claims that kid actors were made to wear suggestive costumes and take part in inappropriate sketches with pornographic undertones. All That actor Leon Frierson recalls playing a superhero character called Captain Big Nose in tights and underwear, with a prosthetic nose and matching noses on his shoulders.
“You can’t help but notice that it looks like penises and testicles on my shoulders,” he says, noting that one sketch included Captain Big Nose unleashing a giant sneeze caused by his allergy to asteroids, resulting in a messy goo on the face of a young woman. “The joke in that sketch is effectively a cum shot joke. It’s a cum shot joke for children,” culture writer Schaachi Koul says in the first episode. “Looking back, it’s very strange. Frankly, it was just uncomfortable. In the moment, I thought this is what we got to do to stay on the show, to stay in the cast and stay in the good graces of people that were higher up,” says Frierson, who also discusses that being close to “kingmaker” Schneider could mean an extra level of success for the young actors. “It was important to be on his good side, and he made it known who was on his good side,” he says.
The Amanda Show actress Raquel Lee Bolleau — who appeared on the show when she was 12-years-old — says that “you wanted Dan to like you, because otherwise he was mean to you,” describing the time Schneider allegedly “flipped out” when he thought a birthday cake on set for Bolleau was too big. “Dan yelled a lot. Dan was like a tornado. He’d show up and you’d say, what just happened? Dan showed up. The set wouldn’t feel the same when he’d leave, because everyone was on their toes, scared,” Bolleau says of the showrunner who others describe as tormenting, humiliating and yelling on set.
That theme is a recurring one in the series, in which the young actors say they feared that if they spoke up for themselves, or their parents did, they would never work again.
“Working for Dan was like being in an abusive relationship,” Christy Stratton, one of only two women writers on The Amanda Show, says in the docuseries. Stratton and the other female writer on the show, Jenny Kilgen, reportedly had to split a normal staff writer salary to get hired, with Stratton recalling that Schneider told her, “he didn’t think women were funny” and Kilgen adding, “He [Schneider] challenged us to name a funny female writer, and he said this to the writers in the writers room.”
Kilgen also says that Schneider allegedly had pornography on his computer screen and told her he’d put one of her sketches in the show in return for a massage. “He always presented it like a joke, and he’d be laughing while he said it. But you always felt like disagreeing with Dan, or standing up for yourself, could get you fired,” Kilgen says, recalling that one day in the writer’s room Schneider asked her to lean across her desk and simulate being sodomized.
The series claims that Schneider’s alleged abusive on-set behavior didn’t stop until after the rise of the #MeToo movement, with Nickelodeon eventually splitting with Schneider after “years of whispers and rumors.” That move came after a 2014 internal investigation about toxic conditions on the set of the Grande/Jennette McCurdy show Sam & Kat resulted in hands-on boss Schneider no longer interacting with the series cast while being sequestered in his office. Schneider — whose shows were moneymakers for the network — created two more series, Game Shakers and Henry Danger before being the subject of a second internal investigation by Nickelodeon, which cleared him of any “hint of sexual misconduct,” but which paved the way for his leave-taking in 2018.
“Everything that happened on the shows I ran was carefully scrutinized by dozens of involved adults. All stories, dialogue, costumes, and makeup were fully approved by network executives on two coasts,” Schneider said in a statement to THR about the series. “A standards and practices group read and ultimately approved every script, and programming executives reviewed and approved all episodes. In addition, every day on set, there were always parents and caregivers and their friends watching us rehearse and film.”
In a statement about the series’ allegations of misconduct, Nickelodeon said, “Though we cannot corroborate or negate allegations of behaviors from productions decades ago, Nickelodeon as a matter of policy investigates all formal complaints as part of our commitment to fostering a safe and professional workplace environment free of harassment or other kinds of inappropriate conduct. Our highest priorities are the well-being and best interests not just of our employees, casts and crew, but of all children, and we have adopted numerous safeguards over the years to help ensure we are living up to our own high standards and the expectations of our audience.”
Stories about sexual assault allegations can be traumatizing for survivors of sexual assault. If you or anyone you know needs support, you can reach out to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN). The organization provides free, confidential support to sexual assault victims. Call RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline (800.656.HOPE) or visit the anti-sexual violence organization’s website for more information.
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The judge set to oversee Diddy’s upcoming “gang rape” trial has introduced a new ruling involving the unidentified accuser that could slow up the case.
According to reports, the federal judge that will oversee the trial stemming from a lawsuit filed against Diddy accusing him of sexual trafficking and being involved in the gang rape of the victim cannot move forward unless the victim identifies herself. In the documents related to the new ruling, Judge Jessica G.L. Clarke did acknowledge that this could “have a significant impact” on the accuser but that they “failed to prove” that they could proceed on an anonymous basis.
“While the court does not take Plaintiff’s concerns lightly, the Court cannot rely on generalized, uncorroborated claims that disclosure would harm Plaintiff to justify her anonymity,” Judge Clarke wrote in the filing. She would go on to write that cases where the accuser’s identity is undisclosed were “the exception and not the rule.” Judge Clarke cited previous lawsuits filed against actor Kevin Spacey and former movie mogul Harvey Weinstein in which the respective John Doe and Jane Does had to disclose their identity.
Douglas Wigdor, who represented Diddy’s ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura in her suit against him, said that Jane Doe came forward after realizing “she too had been sex trafficked and that Mr. Combs’ behavior in forcing women into nonconsensual sex was not an isolated incident or unique only to Ms. Ventura.”
The lawsuit alleges that Diddy, former Bad Boy President Harve Pierre and an unidentified third man had coerced Jane Doe, then 17, from Michigan to New Jersey, “plied her with drugs and alcohol” and ultimately raped her in a Manhattan recording studio in 2003. Diddy has since filed an 11-page response to the lawsuit in the Southern District of New York, claiming that he “never participated in, witnessed, or was or is presently aware of any misconduct, sexual or otherwise, relating to plaintiff in any circumstance whatsoever.”
The filing by his new team of lawyers (which includes the same attorney that represented Jeffrey Epstein’s associate, Ghislaine Maxwell) claims the lawsuit is “unconstitutional.” Harve Pierre has also filed his official response to the lawsuit, saying that he “never participated in the sexual assault of the plaintiff nor did he ever witness anyone else sexually assaulting the plaintiff.”
A federal judge ruled Thursday (Feb. 29) that an unnamed woman suing Sean “Diddy” Combs over allegations that he “sex trafficked” and “gang raped” her must reveal her identity as the case moves forward.
The judge acknowledged that disclosing the accuser’s identity “could have a significant impact on her” due to the “graphic and disturbing allegations in this case,” but said the woman had failed to prove that she could proceed anonymously.
“While the court does not take plaintiff’s concerns lightly, the Court cannot rely on generalized, uncorroborated claims that disclosure would harm plaintiff to justify her anonymity,” Judge Jessica G. L. Clarke wrote.
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The judge cited previous lawsuits against Kevin Spacey and Harvey Weinstein in which John Doe and Jane Doe accusers, respectively, had been denied anonymity and said that allowing cases to proceed under a pseudonym in the U.S. court system was “the exception and not the rule.”
The ruling will not take effect immediately; instead, the accuser will not be revealed until after the judge rules on Diddy’s pending motion to dismiss the lawsuit. It’s unclear when that ruling might come. If the case survives, the Jane Doe will be forced to reveal her name.
Thursday’s decision came in one of several abuse cases filed against the hip-hop mogul late last year. In the current case, the unnamed Jane Doe accuser claims that Combs and former Bad Boy Records president Harve Pierre “plied” her with drugs and alcohol before raping her in a Manhattan recording studio when she was a high school junior.
Combs has strongly denied those allegations, saying: “I did not do any of the awful things being alleged. I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth.” Last week, he formally responded to the lawsuit, arguing that that the allegations are “fictional” and violate his constitutional right to due process.
For months, the two sides have wrangled over whether the Jane Doe accuser could proceed anonymously. She argued that the media attention she would face would result in fresh trauma, adding to what she already allegedly suffered. Diddy’s attorneys argued strongly the other way, saying it would be unfair to let his accuser proceed under a pseudonym while his name was dragged through the mud.
On Thursday, the judge sided clearly with Diddy’s argument, ruling that she had failed to show the kind of “particularized harm or current vulnerabilities” that would necessitate such special status.
“Although this case involves highly sensitive allegations and Doe has not publicly revealed her identity, all other factors weigh against Plaintiff’s motion should this case survive Defendants’ dispositive motions,” the judge wrote.
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Diddy has more explaining to do. A former male producer is making some stunning claims that the mogul sexually assaulted him.
Variety Magazine is reporting that the Bad Boy Entertainment founder is now facing some new allegations regarding his behavior. On Monday, Feb. 26 producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones filed a lawsuit against Sean Combs stating the music executive made several sexual advances toward him during the recording of The Love Album: Off the Grid and was “subjected to unwanted advances by associates of Diddy at his direction.” Jones also faced “constant unsolicited and unauthorized groping and touching of his anus” and was even made to work in the bathroom while Diddy showered.
But wait it gets worse. Aside from the inappropriate advances Jones says that Combs frequently hired sex workers and offered them illegal drugs and laced alcoholic beverages. Additionally, the producer says he was also drugged and woke up on Feb. 2, 2023 in bed naked with Diddy and two sex workers. As expected lawyers for Combs have denied in a statement to Variety Magazine. “Lil Rod is nothing more than a liar who filed a $30 billion lawsuit shamelessly looking for an undeserved payday,” Shawn Holley said. “His reckless name-dropping about events that are pure fiction and simply did not happen is nothing more than a transparent attempt to garner headlines. We have overwhelming, indisputable proof that his claims are complete lies.”
This one of many lawsuits against Diddy with claims of sexual misconduct. According to HipHopDX on Friday, Feb. 23 his lawyer Jonathan Davis described him and former Bad Boy Records president Harve Pierre in a filing as “victims of the ‘cancel culture’ frenzy in the courts”. The two businessmen are defendants along with another unnamed individual are alleged to gang raping a 17-year-old girl back in 2003. Both have plead not guilty and have asked the suit to be dismissed.
A music producer who says he worked on Sean “Diddy” Combs‘ 2023 album The Love Album: Off the Grid is accusing the hip-hop mogul of sexual assault and harassment, sex trafficking and various other forms of misconduct in a sprawling lawsuit filed Monday (Feb. 26).
In the complaint, filed by plaintiff Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones Jr. in New York federal court, the producer accuses Combs of “groping and touching” his anus and trying to groom him into engaging in sexual acts with Combs and other individuals, including Love Album producer Steven Aaron Jordan (a.k.a. Stevie J) and a cousin of Combs’ ex-girlfriend Yung Miami (named as a Jane Doe defendant). He also claims that Combs “forced” him to “solicit sex workers,” some of whom were underage, as well as to “perform sex acts to the pleasure of Mr. Combs.”
In one alleged incident from February 2023, Jones claims he woke up “naked, dizzy, and confused” in a “bed with two sex workers and Mr. Combs” at Combs’ home in Miami and “believes” he was drugged by Combs.
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The lawsuit, filed by attorney Tyrone Blackburn, names several more defendants whom Jones claims conspired with Combs in an alleged “RICO enterprise” to enable his misconduct: Universal Music Group (UMG), its subsidiary Motown Records, Combs’ label imprint Love Records, UMG chairman/CEO Lucian Grainge, former Motown CEO/chairwoman Ethiopia Habtemariam; Combs’ chief of staff, Kristina Khorram; and Combs’ son, Justin Combs. Federal RICO cases, which are based on the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act traditionally used to target the mafia and drug cartels, are brought to more effectively sweep up members of alleged crime rings. (Notably, the ongoing Georgia criminal case against Young Thug that alleges the rapper ran a violent Atlanta street gang is based on a Georgia statute modeled off of the federal RICO law.)
In this case, Jones claims the “RICO enterprise” in question was set up to recruit sex workers, some of them underage, and to acquire and distribute drugs and guns out of Combs’ Miami home. He accuses the participants in the alleged enterprise of keeping him under their control by threatening him with violence, ostracism from the music industry and nonpayment for work on the album, which he says he still has not been compensated for despite having allegedly produced nine tracks.
The lawsuit also brings up an alleged September 2022 incident at Chalice Recording Studio in Hollywood, during a writing and producing camp for The Love Album, that allegedly resulted in a man being shot in the stomach following a “heated conversation” between Combs, his son Justin Combs and another unnamed man. Following the incident, Jones claims Combs forced him to lie to police by telling them the man was injured in a drive-by shooting outside. Jones is suing Combs, UMG, Motown, Love Records and Chalice Recording Studio for providing “inadequate or negligent security” during the camp.
In a statement sent to Billboard, Combs’ attorney Shawn Holley said: “Lil Rod is nothing more than a liar who filed a $30 billion lawsuit shamelessly looking for an undeserved payday. His reckless name-dropping about events that are pure fiction and simply did not happen is nothing more than a transparent attempt to garner headlines. We have overwhelming, indisputable proof that his claims are complete lies. Our attempts to share this proof with Mr. Jones’ attorney, Tyrone Blackburn, have been ignored, as Mr. Blackburn refuses to return our calls. We will address these outlandish allegations in court and take all appropriate action against those who make them.”
A spokesperson for Justin Combs sent the following statement: “Justin Combs categorically denies these absurd allegations. They are all lies! This is a clear example of a desperate person taking desperate measures in hopes of a pay day. There will be legal consequences for all defamatory statements made about the Combs family.”
Representatives for UMG, Motown, Love Records, Grainge and Chalice Recording Studio did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Habtemariam could not be located for comment at press time.
Jones is asking for damages for loss of past and future income as well as “mental anguish, humiliation, embarrassment, stress and anxiety, emotional pain and suffering, and emotional distress”; punitive damages; and the costs of bringing the suit.
The Love Album was originally announced in May 2022 as a release on Combs’ newly formed imprint Love Records, to be released in tandem with UMG’s Motown. However, the album — which featured a laundry list of stars including Mary J. Blige, Burna Boy, John Legend, Justin Bieber and The Weeknd — was ultimately released independently in September 2023.
Jones’ lawsuit is just the latest in a string of legal accusations to be lodged against Combs over the past several months. In November, Combs’ longtime girlfriend, R&B singer Cassie, sued him for rape and physical abuse, though the case was promptly settled. He was subsequently sued by two more women for sexual assault and later by a Jane Doe who claimed Combs “sex trafficked” and “gang raped” her when she was 17. Combs has denied all of the allegations.
A new sexual assault lawsuit has been filed against Nigel Lythgoe, this time by an unidentified woman who claims the former American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance producer forcibly touched her in 2016.
The suit, filed on Saturday in Los Angeles Superior Court, is the latest against Lythgoe accusing him of sexual misconduct and abuse. After Paula Abdul sued the producer in December over two separate incidents of sexual assault, a pair of unnamed contestants on “AAG,” which is believed to be a reference to reality series All American Girl cited in a complaint from the women, came forward with accusations that he made unwanted sexual advances and groped them inside his Los Angeles home in 2003. That second suit was filed in January against a defendant with the initials “N.L.,” which multiple outlets identified as the producer.
Lythgoe stepped back from his on-camera and behind the scenes roles on SYTYCD in the wake of the allegations. The producer did not immediately respond to requests for comment for this story.
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The suit says the accuser met Lythgoe at a hotel in Beverly Hills and that he “insisted” on driving her home. The complaint describes the alleged assault, which took place inside his car over the course of at least ten minutes.
“Plaintiff tried to push Lythgoe away from her and instruct Lythgoe’s driver how to return to her house, but Lythgoe continued to grab at Plaintiff, fondle her breasts, and kiss her,” the suit states. “Lythgoe even shoved his hand up Plaintiff’s skirt and penetrated her genitalia.”
The woman claims the producer eventually relented once his driver arrived at her apartment after allegedly taking an unexpectedly long route. She alleges she continues to suffer severe mental anguish due to the incident.
The complaint brings claims for sexual battery, gender violence and intentional infliction of emotional distress. It seeks an unspecified amount in damages.
“It is troubling to hear of yet another alleged incident of a woman being taken advantage of and abused by a prominent public figure,” said Melissa Eubanks, a lawyer for the Jane Doe plaintiff who also represents Abdul in her suit against Lythgoe, in a statement.
In her complaint, Abdul accused Lythgoe of assaulting her twice during one of the early seasons of American Idol and years later when she was a judge on SYTYCD.
“Lythgoe shoved Abdul against the wall, then grabbed her genitals and breasts and began shoving his tongue down her throat,” the suit stated.
This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.
The unnamed woman who filed a sexual abuse lawsuit against Interscope Records co-founder Jimmy Iovine in November has dropped the case, according to a document filed in New York court on Thursday (Feb. 15). The case has been “discontinued in its entirety with prejudice,” meaning the woman cannot refile. Representatives for Iovine and his accuser […]
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Ahead of his upcoming trial for trafficking, Diddy is hiring the lawyer who represented Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s associate in her case.
According to reports, Diddy has engaged the services of attorney Bobbi Sternheim to represent him in a lawsuit that was filed against him accusing him of sexual assault in 2003. Sternheim, a veteran trial attorney, recently was the lawyer for Ghislaine Maxwell in her 2022 case where she was ultimately convicted of recruiting and trafficking young girls abused by the disgraced billionaire Jeffrey Epstein. Legal reporter Meghan Cuniff also noted Sternheim’s experience as the former president of the New York Women’s Bar Association in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Sternheim, who works with the law firm of Fasulo, Giordano & DiMaggio LLP, also served as the defense attorney for Khaled al-Fawwaz, the henchman for Osama bin Laden in his 2015 trial for his role in the 1998 bombings of two American embassies in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya. The bombings would claim the lives of 224 people, and al-Fawwaz would receive a life sentence in prison. According to her biography, Sternheim is the first and only woman to receive the New York Criminal Bar Association’s Award for Excellence in the Profession.
This new lawsuit against Diddy was filed last December, accusing him and former Bad Boy Records President Harve Pierre of organizing “a sex trafficking scheme that involved plying [Jane Doe] with alcohol and transporting her by private jet to New York City where she was gang-raped.” The victim, identified in the documents as “Jane Doe” claimed that she was 17 at the time, meeting Pierre and a “third assailant” at a lounge in Detroit, Michigan. They persuaded her to take a private plane to New Jersey, after which they drove to Diddy’s House Recording Studio in New York City. The legal filing states that the victim consumed so much alcohol “to the point that she could not possibly have consented to having sex with anyone, much less someone twice her age.”
The victim has retained Douglas H. Wigdor as her attorney. Wigdor is the lawyer who represented Cassie in her lawsuit accusing Diddy of rape and domestic violence last December. That suit was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount the day after it was filed, stating: “Pursuant to an agreement between the parties, Plaintiff hereby dismisses this action, with prejudice and without costs or fees to either party.”
Former record executive Drew Dixon, who previously accused Russell Simmons of rape, is now suing the Def Jam Recordings founder over allegations that he defamed her by suggesting during a December interview that she was lying about the incident.
In a lawsuit filed Thursday (Feb. 15) in Manhattan federal court, Dixon’s attorneys claim Simmons “subjected Ms. Dixon to public ridicule, contempt, and disgrace” by “calling her a liar.” During the interview, Simmons did not reference Dixon by name, but her lawyers say the message was clear.
“Mr. Simmons’s false statements were broadcast around the world and were reasonably understood by those who heard them to be specific factual claims by Mr. Simmons that he had not sexually abused Ms. Dixon and that Ms. Dixon was a liar who was seeking fame,” her attorneys wrote.
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The lawsuit claims that Simmons’ statements were designed “to cause the world to disbelieve Ms. Dixon” and to “destroy Ms. Dixon’s efforts to use her experience to help others suffering as victims of sexual abuse and harassment.”
Simmons did not immediately return a request for comment on the lawsuit’s allegations.
Dixon, a former A&R at Def Jam, was one of three women who accused Simmons of rape in a blockbuster 2017 article by the New York Times. Her allegations were also at the center of On the Record, a 2020 documentary film that featured interviews with numerous other women who have made other abuse accusations against Simmons.
Similar harassment and assault claims against Simmons by other women have also been reported by the Los Angeles Times and the Hollywood Reporter; a report by People says that a total of 19 different women have made allegations against him. Just last week, Simmons was hit with new accusations in a federal lawsuit that claims he raped a former Def Jam video producer in the 1990s.
At issue in Friday’s lawsuit are statements made by Simmons during an interview on a Dec. 6 episode of In Depth with Graham Besinger, titled “Russell Simmons breaks silence on allegations.”
On the podcast, Simmons said he was facing allegations from “six people” after he slept with “thousands” of women over the course of his life. He said that “people can have a recollection from 30 or 40 years ago, and it can be different from my recollection.”
“Could someone leave and feel hurt? Could someone leave and feel that they wish they hadn’t? Could some re-imagine a story out of thousands of people? Could someone want notoriety in a market where people thirst for fame?” Simmons asked, before later adding: “I’ve never been forceful in any of my relationships. All of what I’ve had has been consensual.”
Dixon’s name is never mentioned during the interview. But statements can still be defamatory without explicitly naming the alleged target, so long as a person is “reasonably identifiable” from what is said.
In her complaint, her lawyers say the “six people” Simmons mentioned “necessarily includes Ms. Dixon,” and thus his statements “have the effect” of accusing her of lying in her allegations: “Mr. Simmons’s false statements directly and indirectly indicate that Ms. Dixon lied about being sexually abused and harassed by Mr. Simmons.”
The case against Simmons is not the first time Dixon has taken a powerful music industry figure to court.
While she hasn’t previously filed a lawsuit against Simmons over her public abuse accusations, she did file such a case in November against Antonio “L.A.” Reid, a longtime music industry executive with stints at Epic Records, Island Def Jam and Arista Records. In that case, Dixon says Reid assaulted her twice during the mid-2000s and then blackballed her after she rebuffed further advances.
That case remains pending.