Bali resident Russell Simmons has failed to pay a settlement and now owes $3 million to three women, including a sexual assault accuser, according to Variety.
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On Wednesday (October 2), the publication reported that new court records obtained revealed that Russell Simmons is on the hook for $3 million after neglecting to send previously agreed-upon payments to three women he had settlement agreements with.
Per Variety, three confessions of judgment were filed on October 2 in New York County Supreme Court on behalf of journalist Sil Lai Abrams, Sherri Abernathy, and Wendy Carolina Franco. The court documents are a part of confidential settlement agreements that the music mogul entered into with the three women in November 2023.
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Per the site, Simmons agreed to pay each woman substantial sums “for claimant’s alleged personal, physical injuries, and sickness” by October 1, 2024. However, according to the three women, the Def Jam co-founder has failed to pay.
It’s reported that last year, as part of the settlement agreements with each woman, Simmons provided confessions of judgment to the plaintiffs. It was noted that if he were to fail to pay and default, the plaintiffs would be given an expedited means to obtain judgments in New York state court and to begin the collections process.
As part of the settlement agreements, Russell Simmons promised to pay $1,265,000 each to Abrams and Abernathy, and $515,000 to Franco. Additionally, as part of these settlements, Simmons did not admit to any wrongdoing against the three women. Variety reported that attorneys for all parties involved did not respond to requests for comment.
Additionally, they reported that explicit details on why the original settlements were made were not offered in the documents. However, they noted that Sil Lai Abrams, an author and domestic violence activist, had previously accused Russell Simmons of rape in 1994. In 2020, she also appeared in the documentary, ‘On the Record,’ which highlighted Black women’s experiences in the Hip-Hop industry.
Simmons, who has been living on the Indonesian isle of Bali since 2018, has faced several sexual assault allegations. For about a decade, Simmons faced more than 20 women accusing him of assault, as recently as this February. A Jane Doe, who once worked for Def Jam, alleged Simmons raped her in the late ‘90s. Two days after this lawsuit, another former Def Jam executive, Drew Dixon, sued Russell Simmons for defamation after he called her a “liar” following allegations of sexual assault.
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