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Artist News Legal
Now Nelly is sued over rape allegation
By Chris Cooke | Published on Thursday 21 December 2017
The woman who recently accused Nelly of rape is now suing the rapper. This follows the confirmation that prosecutors are no longer pursuing the case and Nelly’s subsequent announcement that he planned to sue his accuser for defamation.
As previously reported, Nelly was arrested in connection to the rape allegations in October. He strongly denied the allegations from the off, while a legal representative of the alleged victim subsequently told reporters that her client no longer wished to participate in the criminal investigation because “she believes the system is going to fail her”.
In new legal papers filed as part of the accuser’s civil action, seen by TMZ, more details about the alleged incident are provided. It’s claimed that the alleged victim worked at a club in Auburn, Washington where Nelly had been performing. She was invited by the musician to an after party, but was taken to his tour bus. Once on the bus, it is alleged, Nelly began masturbating, before having sex with the accuser against her will.
She says that she attempted to persuade him to stop, in part by insisting that he needed to use a condom, but that he ignored her pleas and continued to assault her. After the assault she began screaming that she wanted to get off the bus, at which point one of Nelly’s entourage pushed her off the vehicle. The rapper then allegedly threw a $100 bill at the woman, before taunting her from the bus while she attempted to call a taxi.
After this, she also called the police who arrested Nelly. His legal rep subsequently issued a strong statement of denial accusing his client’s accuser of being “motivated by greed and vindictiveness”. The alleged victim then requested that the police investigation be called off because of the process she had endured since reporting the alleged crime, with her lawyer writing at the time: “We do not live in a society where a 21 year old college student can feel safe enough to pursue criminal charges against a celebrity for an alleged rape”.
Like Nelly himself, his accuser is also suing for defamation – in addition to seeking damages in relation to the alleged assault itself – because of the statement he put out that she was “motivated by greed and vindictiveness”. On launching his defamation action last week, Nelly’s attorney said “Nelly has suffered very real damage to his reputation”, adding that he was now suing “as the first step in restoring his reputation”.
Responding to the news that Nelly was now being sued by his accuser, the same attorney told TMZ: “It comes as no surprise that [his accuser] filed a lawsuit against Nelly seeking money after we announced our intention to hold her accountable. We always believed her accusation was motivated by greed”.
