Russell Simmons Faces New $10 Million Lawsuit Alleging Rape
UPDATE: Russell Simmons called a $10 million dollar lawsuit alleging he raped a Jane Doe in 1988 “nothing more than an attempted extortion” in new paperwork filed Monday. Per Billboard, the hip-hop mogul also called the suit a “work of pure fiction.” The new filing consists of a letter Simmons’ lawyer sent to Jane Doe’s lawyer, outlining support for a demurrer to Doe’s complaint. In the letter, Simmons’ lawyer argued Doe’s suit is invalid primarily because the alleged incident occurred far outside the statute of limitations.
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Russell Simmons is facing a new $10 million lawsuit that accuses the former Def Jam mogul of rape and severe emotional distress.
The lawsuit, filed by a Jane Doe plaintiff at the Los Angeles County Superior Court on Friday, alleges that Simmons lured the unnamed woman to his hotel room where he raped her, Variety reports.
The alleged rape occurred following a Sacramento concert Simmons took the victim and her young son to. After the concert, the lawsuit claims, the child was dropped off with a babysitter before Simmons and the women proceeded to an afterparty. Simmons and the woman later stopped at his hotel room where he allegedly forced sex on the woman.
The lawsuit, obtained by Variety, states that Simmons, “a dangerous sex predator,” also threatened the woman prior to the rape, “I am going to fuck you… I’m going to fuck you or I’m going to fuck your son. You decide.” “[Doe] was shocked that Simmons would threaten her – let alone threaten to rape her young son. Simmons threw her on the bed and raped her,” the lawsuit claimed.
“There is at least one witness who saw Jane leaving the hotel room in tears and Jane told several people about the rape at or near the time of the assault,” the lawsuit added. “Therefore, there is substantial independent corroboration of the horrific event.”
In a statement that mirrored his previous denials of sexual assault, Simmons told Rolling Stone of the latest accusations, “I vehemently deny all the allegations made against me. They have shocked me to my core as I have never been abusive or violent in any way in my relations with women. I have submitted myself to multiple lie detector tests. I denied forced sex and sexual harassment allegations brought against me in each test; I also answered no to the question, ‘Have you ever physically forced any woman to have sexual intercourse?’ I passed all of the lie detector tests.”
A. Douglas Mastroianni, the lawyer who filed the lawsuit on behalf of Jane Doe, told Rolling Stone in a statement, “I have a young daughter so I admire and am grateful for women like my client who have come forward to expose Russell Simmons. This case, and others like it, will make the world safer for women and we have people like my client to thank for that.”
Jane Doe’s complaint is the second multi-million lawsuit filed against Simmons in recent months: In January, an aspiring filmmaker named Jennifer Jarosik filed a $5 million lawsuit that claimed Simmons attacked her during a 2016 visit to his home.
Since three women first revealed allegations of sexual assault against Simmons in a New York Times report in December 2017, over a dozen more women have come forward with accusations against the Def Jam co-founder.