Russell Simmons Is Being Sued For $5 Million in New Rape Case

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Another woman has come forward to accuse Russell Simmons of raping her in 2016. She is suing him for $5 million.

Deadline reports that the case was filed Wednesday at a U.S. District Court in Central California. The plaintiff, Jennifer Jarosik, alleges she met Simmons in 2006 after approaching him for an interview, and bonded with him over their mutual love of meditation, yoga, and veganism. Simmons promised to help her with the documentary she was working on, and she says she viewed him as “a spiritual conscious person.”

Jarosik alleges in court documents that a decade later, Simmons invited her to his Los Angeles home, where he became aggressive with her when she turned down his offer for sex and allegedly pushed her onto his bed. According to the filing, he then “pounced on her while she was still in shock and fear, and proceeded to rape her.”

Jarosik says she was inspired to come forward after hearing other similar allegations about Simmons. Upon Jarosik confronting him personally, according to her case, he “pretended [the assault] never happened.”

The court documents, filed by Jarosik’s lawyer Perry C. Wander, reference #TimesUp, but also blame “sexual exploitation of women” on hip-hop, rather than the larger culture in which it resides:

The sexual exploitation of women is pervasive in the hip hop and music industry culture. Plaintiff hopes that through this lawsuit, the Hip Hop industry faces the music and recognizes that the deep-rooted history of misogyny and discrimination against women in the music industry has to come to an end, now. #TimesUp

The filing also states that since the incident, Jarosik has been unable to work and suffers from “severe and permanent emotional and mental distress and anguish, humiliation, embarrassment, fright, discomfort, anxiety and depression,” for which she is asking for $5 million in damages. She is one of 12 women to accuse Simmons of sexual assault.

 
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