NYPD Investigating Russell Simmons Over Bombshell Rape Accusations
The New York Police Department’s special victims unit has opened an investigation into Russell Simmons after at least 11 women claimed the embattled music mogul either sexually harassed or raped them.
An NYPD source revealed to the Los Angeles Times on Thursday that detectives are in the initial stages of reaching out to women who have alleged that Simmons assaulted them in New York. Seven of his alleged victims are said to live in New York.
Sherri Hines, former member of the all-female hip-hop group Mercedes Ladies, claimed to the outlet Simmons raped her in his NYC office in 1983, and told the paper she was contacted by the NYPD earlier in the day.
As RadarOnline.com readers know, Simmons was most recently accused of raping three women who came forward to The New York Times to share their stories about the alleged attacks.
The women spoke on the record about the incidents spanning from 1998 to as recently as 2014.
Drew Dixon told The New York Times that she was 24 and working for Def Jam records when Simmons allegedly raped her in his downtown Manhattan apartment.
Tina Baker said Simmons raped her in the early 1990s when he was her manager. She said he had often invited her to his apartment, so she willingly went there.
Toni Sallie, a music journalist met Simmons and began dating him. She broke up with him but they remained friends. She told the NY Times that he invited her to a party at his Manhattan apartment but attacked her while giving her a tour.
Simmons “acknowledged that he dated Ms. Sallie but denied any nonconsensual sex,” through his attorney, the NY Times said.
Simmons “emphatically states that he did not have sex with her Drew Dixon,” his lawyer said.
Dixon told the New York Times that Simmons apologized to her at an industry event. “He said, ‘I have daughters and I do yoga now, Drew, and I know what I did was wrong, and I’m sorry.’”
Simmons also released a statement about the other accusations in the NYT story, saying: “I vehemently deny all these allegations. These horrific accusations have shocked me to my core and all of my relations have been consensual. I have enormous respect for the women’s movement worldwide and their struggle for respect, dignity, equality and power.”
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