Tarnished titan Russell Simmons has been ordered to pay $3M for failing to comply with lawsuit settlements he agreed to with three of his sexual assault accusers.
According to court documents obtained by Variety magazine, Simmons reportedly agreed to fork over handsome sums of money by Oct. 1, 2024, to journalist Sil Lai Abrams, as well as complainants Sherri Abernathy and Wendy Carolina Franco.
The New York County Supreme Court said the agreement Simmons entered into with each woman was “for claimant’s alleged personal, physical injuries and sickness” caused by Simmons.
Despite denying any wrongdoing in the written resolution, Simmons agreed to pay $1,265,000 each to Abrams and Abernathy, and $515,000 to Franco.
When the Oct. 1 deadline passed without Simmons making the required payments, the court entered a judgment against Simmons. In New York State, plaintiffs are given expedited means to obtain judgments and to begin the collections process when the defendant defaults on the required payments.
These three lawsuits are just the tip of the iceberg. More than 20 women have come forward in the past decade to accuse the Def Jam founder of sexual assault. This includes the February 2024 complaint from a woman named “Jane Doe,” who said she was an employee at Def Jam when she was raped in the late 1990s.
Forty-eight hours after that lawsuit was filed, another former Def Jam executive, Drew Dixon, also went to court claiming defamation of character. She said in the legal documents that Simmons called her a “liar” for saying she was assaulted sexually by him.
