The Star Malaysia

Rap mogul Simmons hit with another rape lawsuit

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loS AngeleS: Hiphop magnate Russell Simmons (pic) was slapped with a US$10mil (RM39mil) rape lawsuit filed by a woman in Los Angeles, the latest in a string of accusation­s against him ranging from harassment to rape.

The unidentifi­ed woman said in the complaint filed in the Los Angeles County Superior Court that the mogul raped her in a hotel after the two met at concert and then went to a club.

At least nine women have now come forward with misconduct allegation­s against the 60yearold Simmons.

In January, aspiring filmmaker Jennifer Jarosik sued him for alleged rape, seeking US$5mil (RM19.5mil) as she called for a reckoning in the hiphop industry on the mistreatme­nt of women.

In light of the most recent suit, Simmons released a statement saying: “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,” he said in the statement, noting that he had submitted to and passed several lie detector tests concerning such allegation­s.

In the latest complaint, the woman said Simmons lured her into his hotel room, threatened her, and then “threw her on the bed and raped her”.

She said she first met the rap impresario at a concert she had attended with her son, and that Simmons had invited her to an afterparty.

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