A jury has ordered rapper Soulja Boy to pay $4m to a lady who has accused him of sexual assault throughout their almost two-year relationship.
On Thursday, a jury in Santa Monica, California, discovered the 34-year-old rapper – whose actual title is DeAndre Cortez Means – accountable for a handful of claims together with sexual battery, assault and imprisonment in a lawsuit introduced by a lady who stated she labored as his assistant. A consultant for Means had beforehand known as the case “nonsense”.
In keeping with the 36-year-old lady, who filed her grievance anonymously, Means recurrently raped her and beat her and generally saved her as a prisoner. Throughout her three-day testimony, the lady stated when she began working for Means, she weighed roughly 150lbs kilos, Courthouse Information stories.
“I used to be about 86lbs once I managed to get away from him,” she stated, including: “I didn’t even really feel human any extra. I felt like an animal.”
The lady additionally testified that whereas she labored for Means, she didn’t have a automotive and her cellphone “went lacking” alongside together with her driver’s license. At one level, she stated Means informed her: “Bitch, I’ve your license.”
The lady testified that regardless of Means’s mistreatment of her, at one level the 2 fell in love and have been in one thing like a consensual relationship, Courthouse Information stories. In keeping with textual content messages proven in court docket which the outlet reviewed, each the lady and Means expressed love for one another at sure occasions.
Different occasions, Means would apologize to the lady and say: “Babe come again let’s discuss severely” and “Are u okay … I’m sorry I like u please name.” One textual content message from the lady learn: “You assume you possibly can hold hitting on me you’re loopy.”
After the three-week-long trial, Means was additionally discovered liable on claims of intentional infliction of emotional misery, sexual harassment and nonpayment of wages. He was cleared on claims of false imprisonment and constructive discharge, Courthouse Information stories.
In a assertion reported by USA At present, the lady’s legal professional, Ron Zambrano, stated: “We’re pleased our shopper was vindicated and the jury believed her claims of bodily and sexual assault … We’re wanting ahead to shifting on to the punitive damages section of the case.”
In the meantime, Means’s legal professional, Rickey Ivie, stated that the lady made up her story and was as an alternative motivated by greed. “She wished to be paid … which is what this case is all about as a result of it’s not concerning the fact,” Ivie stated.
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