Nicki Minaj is continuing to fight back against the woman who accused her husband, Kenneth Petty, of rape. In fact, as previously reported by The Root, Petty was sentenced to 18 to 54 months in New York state prison on a plea deal for the attempted first-degree rape of Jennifer Hough in 1994, though Hough has always contended that Petty forced her to have sex after the two encountered each other at a neighborhood bus stop as teens.
Petty has recently been facing further legal trouble for failing to register as a sex offender in California, where he, Minaj, and their one-year-old son currently reside. But in August, Hough made another accusation, contending that she’d been harassed and offered money by Minaj and members of her camp, who were attempting to compel her to recant her allegations against Petty.
“I’m tired of being afraid,” Hough told hosts of The Real in September in her first public appearance since filing the suit. “I feel like the actions that were taken in regards to this whole situation have put me in a different type of fear at my age now. And it was wrong and I don’t want to be afraid anymore. So the only way not to be afraid is to continue to speak up.”
After scoring a triumph in October when a judge denied a $20 million default judgement case filed by Hough’s team after Minaj seemingly failed to respond to Hough’s lawsuit, Minaj’s camp is now doubling down on its defense. Per Page Six, “Nicki Minaj’s lawyer is threatening her husband’s alleged rape victim and her attorney with court sanctions—claiming that the pair filed a ‘disgraceful’ lawsuit in an attempt to get rich and famous.”
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Now, Minaj’s attorney has sent a letter to Hough’s lawyer, Tyrone A. Blackburn, threatening to demand that the court sanction them both because, he claims, the suit is full of obvious mistruths.
Judges can make attorneys and their clients pay fines or slap them with other punishments, known as sanctions, for failing to follow procedures or abusing the justice system.
In papers sent to Blackburn, Minaj’s attorney Judd Burstein said, “This case is a disgrace, filed by a lawyer who, in pursuit of some cheap publicity, rushed to file [papers] asserting outlandishly false allegations against [Minaj] which have absolutely no support in the law.”
Meanwhile, Burstein accused Hough of dragging Minaj into the case because she’s looking for a big payout.
“[Minaj] has been sued by [Hough] for the ‘crime’ of being a rich celebrity — capable of paying a judgment — who fell in love with and married Mr. Petty,” he wrote.
While Burstein declined to offer further comment on the case, Hough’s attorney Blackburn told Page Six, “Burstein is using this tasteless tactic to distract people from the actions of [Minaj] and Petty. The public is not going to be fooled.”