Russell Simmons sued for alleged rape and sexual assault by former Def Jam music executive
The plaintiff, identified only as Jane Doe, claims the rape took place while she was conducting business with Simmons at his apartment in the 1990s
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Def Jam Recordings co-founder Russell Simmons has been sued by a woman who says he raped her at his apartment while she was an executive at the company in the late 1990s.
The lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York on Tuesday and obtained by Fox News Digital, claims that "while pursuing her career and passion as a music executive" the plaintiff, identified only as Jane Doe, was "sexually harassed, assaulted, sexually battered, and raped by her boss, Russell Simmons, a rich and powerful celebrity whose wealth and influence allowed his abusive behavior to go unchallenged for decades."
The lawsuit says that when Doe first came to work for Simmons at Def Jam they had a professional relationship, but he then "revealed his true colors and, through his assaultive behavior, disabled Ms. Doe’s career at Def Jam, a job she loved, at the height of her success and financial viability."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Simmons' accuser went to his apartment one day, the lawsuit claims, which was a common place Simmons conducted work, when he did a "wrestling move" on Doe while they were sitting on a bed watching a rough cut of a music video for him to approve.
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Russell Simmons has been sued for the alleged rape of a former Def Jam employee that occurred in the 1990s. (Tiffany Rose/Getty Images for Make A Wish)
"The situation escalated into aggression and Mr. Simmons pinned Ms. Doe down on a bed," the lawsuit describes. "Ms. Doe repeatedly told Mr. Simmons to get off of her, but he refused. Mr. Simmons proceeded to rape her."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The alleged rape caused her "overwhelming anxiety, shame, humiliation and debilitating low self-esteem" along with panic attacks, and she soon quit Def Jam and left New York for California.
Simmons has been accused of sexual misconduct by more than a dozen women since 2017 and has admitted to being "crude" but denies any violent assaults.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I took nine lie detector tests, people don't know that," Simmons told Graham Bensinger in an interview last year. "Nine separate — seven from the Chairman of the Polygraph Association. One for each and serious accusation."
Simmons has been accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women. (Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images)
Simmons stepped down from his position at Def Jam after the accusations.
The new lawsuit says each allegation against Simmons has a "striking similarity of a pattern of behavior in most of the alleged assaults by Mr. Simmons. To stress the enormity of the issue, once his crimes became known Mr. Simmons was forced to resign from many of his business ventures and several of his charitable organization boards."
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Before the assault, Simmons began harassing Doe at the office, the lawsuit alleges, "aggressively invading her personal space while making sexual innuendos, suggestions, and advances, and rubbing the front of his pants. Mr. Simmons would follow Ms. Doe to the door or block her path to prevent her from opening it again."
One time, a senior executive came to her office and banged on the door, telling Simmons to leave her alone, the lawsuit says.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Def Jam executive is suing Simmons over an alleged rape that occurred in the 1990s. (Rita Barros/Getty Images)
After leaving Def Jam, at other jobs "Ms. Doe found it difficult to be an effective employee or remain in a position for more than a few months, experiencing the effects of trauma from Mr. Simmons’s assault," the lawsuit says.
"She had radically changed from the confident and enthusiastic executive known for excellent coping skills in the face of chaos. She struggled in her relationships with employers. When she encountered conflict with a superior, she became overwhelmed with anxiety and had to disengage. This was the opposite of how she was before the assault."
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Just last year, after years of not talking, Doe went to a crowded yoga class in Los Angeles and put her yoga mat down next to Simmons’ without realizing it.
He recognized her, and she asked him if it was OK to practice next to him.
"Mr. Simmons leaned towards her and whispered, ‘Of course. What, do you think I’m gonna try and f--- you?’," the lawsuit says. "Ms. Doe was horrified. She realized not only was he unapologetic towards her personally, he did not appreciate that the assault was wrong."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In the lawsuit, filed under New York’s Adult Survivors Act that extends the statute of limitations for sexual misconduct, Doe seeks "punitive and economic damages for loss of employment, loss of business opportunities, loss of wages, and to compensate Ms. Doe for injuries suffered as a result of the unlawful conduct alleged herein."
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Doe’s lawyer Kenya Davis told Fox News, "As detailed in the complaint, our client was sexually assaulted and harassed by her boss, Russell Simmons, while pursuing her professional ambitions as an executive at Def Jam. She was proud of her contributions to the burgeoning musical genre of hip hop, but her hard work and her career in music was disrupted and derailed by Mr. Simmons, a rich and powerful celebrity whose wealth and influence allowed his abusive behavior to go unchallenged for decades. Now a successful writer and producer in the entertainment industry, Jane Doe’s traumatic experiences with Simmons echo those of so many other women who he has preyed upon for decades."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Simmons did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.