Soulja Boy finds liability for former auxiliary sexual assault and orders US$4 million to pay
A jury on Thursday ruled that rapper Soulja Boy was responsible for the sexual assault, physical and emotional former assistant, granting the woman more than $4 million in U.S. compensation.
The Los Angeles County jurors’ decision comes after a three-week trial in Santa Monica, California.
The 34-year-old Soulja Boy, whose legal name is Deandre Cortez Way, was found to be responsible for assault, sexual assault and intentional emotional distress. The jurors found him responsible for false incarceration and other charges. They found that the woman deserved about $4 million in damages and another $250,000 in punitive damages.
“Today’s verdict is just the beginning of justice for Soulja Boy’s victims and other victims in the music industry,” the plaintiff’s attorney Neama Rahmani said in a statement.
Chief defense attorney Rickey Ivie said in his statement: “We insist that the evidence does not support the judgment. Unfortunately, the aversion and misunderstanding that allows culture can affect the trial.
The woman was not identified as a name in the lawsuit filed in 2021, and the Associated Press usually did not name the person they were sexually abused.
Abuse detailed in the lawsuit
She said she started working for Soulja Boy in 2018, and he agreed to pay her $500 a week in the U.S. to clean the house, cook for him and perform other personal tasks. But she said she was never paid.
Her lawsuit alleges that the two began a romantic relationship, and he began to abuse her, rape her, kick her, beat her and threaten her with violence and death.
The lawsuit says she believes she fell in love with him and that despite repeated violence, he manipulated her until 2020.
The lawsuit says she was beaten and raped again when she returned to recycle her own stuff a few months after leaving him.
The Chicago hip-hop artist is best known for his 2007 single “That That (Soulja Boy), which ranked No. 1 in the Billboard Hot 100 and brought him a Grammy Award nomination for Best Rap Song.
