A woman who claims that Russell Simmons raped her filed a $10 million lawsuit Friday alleging sexual assault and emotional distress against the hip-hop mogul.
The Hollywood Reporter reports that the lawsuit was filed anonymously in Los Angeles Superior Court with the complainant named as “Jane Doe.”
Jane Doe alleges that she met Simmons when she took her son to a rap and hip-hop concert. Simmons invited her to an after-party at his hotel. They met up to go drinking and clubbing, and Simmons allegedly told her he needed to pick up something from his hotel room. When she went there with him, he allegedly forced sex on her.
The complaint reads, “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. Therefore, there is substantial independent corroboration of the horrific event.”
This is the second such lawsuit to be filed against Simmons this year. Filmmaker Jennifer Jarosik filed a $5 million lawsuit in January, alleging that Simmons raped her during a meeting in 2016.
Simmons has been accused of sexual misconduct by more than a dozen women.
In November 2017, Keri Claussen Khaligi accused Simmons of sexually assaulting her in 1991—when she was just 17 years old—while film director Brett Ratner allegedly just watched and did nothing.
Less than two weeks later, Jenny Lumet—daughter of filmmaker Sidney Lumet and granddaughter of singer and activist Lena Horne—came forward with the accusation that Simmons assaulted her when she was in her early 20s.
In December 2017, four women spoke on the record with the New York Times and five others spoke to the Los Angeles Times accusing Simmons of sexual misconduct and rape.
The New York City Police Department launched an investigation into some of the sexual assault allegations against Simmons in December.
Simmons has continued to deny the allegations against him. On Friday he responded to Jane Doe’s lawsuit with the following statement:
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.