[Warning: While not graphic, this article does contain descriptions of sexual assault.]
In the newest in a series of sexual assault charges leveled against the former music mogul, another woman has charged Russell Simmons with rape in a $10 million civil lawsuit filed earlier today in LA County Superior Court. That suit is covered in Billboard, which says that it was filed by an anonymous woman who claims that Simmons invited her to an afterparty after meeting her and her young son at a concert. She dropped off her son at their hotel and met Simmons at a nightclub; Simmons then lured her to his hotel room. There, he threw her on the bed and raped her, threatening to sexually assault her son if she did not comply. The woman is suing for $10 million in damages for “forcible rape, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligent infliction of emotional distress.”
Simmons is currently under investigation by the NYPD related to accusations made by another woman, Keri Clausen Khalighi, who accused Simmons and director Brett Ratner of sexual misconduct, and Simmons of assault, following a horrific incident where she was coerced into sex with Simmons when she was only 17 years old. Khalighi accused Ratner of watching the incident; Ratner denies all allegations. Simmons also publicly denies all the charges against him, and stepped down from his companies in November of last year amidst rape accusations from another woman, actress and writer Jenny Lumet.
He was also sued in January by filmmaker Jennifer Jarosik, who is asking for $5 million in damages related to her alleged sexual assault. (It’s worth noting here that while California eliminated its statute of limitations on rape cases in January 2017, that change does not apply retroactively, meaning that these women may have had no other recourse after the statute of limitations in their cases ran out.) Sixteen women in total have now come forward with allegations against Simmons, ranging from sexual harassment to rape.
3/25/18: This article has been updated to reflect that Khalighi alleged Simmons coerced her into sex while Ratner “watched.” Both Ratner and Simmons have denied all allegations.