The 60-year-old business mogul claims in his response that he has “never had non-consensual sex” with accuser Jennifer Jarosik.
UPDATE:
Court records show that a "Notice of Voluntary Dismissal of Party(ies)” was issued in the case of Jennifer Jarosik vs. Russell Simmons on Wednesday, April 25.
The document states that “Mr. Simmons is hereby dismissed with prejudice” from this lawsuit and all claims made by Jarosik in her complaint. Each party will pay for their own attorney’s fees in the case.
PREVIOUSLY:
Russell Simmons is firing back at one of his accuser’s allegations of rape in a new legal filing.
In new court documents obtained by ET, the media mogul responds to accusations from Jennifer Jarosik, whom the filing refers to as a “casual acquaintance” of Simmons. The documents admit that Jarosik and Simmons have known each other for over a decade, and say the two have had sex in the past, but claims that each encounter “was with Ms. Jarosik’s full consent.”
Jarosik alleged in her January court filing that Simmons raped her at his Hollywood Hills home in 2016, after she rebuffed his advances. Nearly a dozen other women have accused Simmons of sexual misconduct in media reports in recent months.
“In the wake of the #metoo movement, Ms. Jarosik alleged that Mr. Simmons raped her, but in exchange for funding her film project, she would help him restore his ‘image’ with women,” Simmons’ denial claims.
The documents also allege that Jarosik sent Simmons “unsolicited nude photos” following the alleged rape and attempted to solicit his advice and funding for various media projects. Simmons’ lawyers cite past court proceedings, which allege that his accuser suffers from “untreated mental health issues” and was found to be “unfit to properly parent” her son.
“Only after hearing that women were able to recover money for real abuse by actual sexual predators, did Ms. Jarosik decide to see if she could extract large amounts of money from Mr. Simmons,” the documents claim. “In fact, the unverified Complaint is nothing more than a work of fiction as the alleged sexual encounter between Mr. Simmons and Ms. Jarosik was consensual.”
Simmons, who concluded his response with a demand for a trial by jury, has previously “vehemently denied” all accusations of sexual misconduct leveled against him.
"I have never had a sexual encounter that was not consensual or lawful. Ever," he shared in an Instagram post in December 2017, prior to Jarosik’s initial filing in January 2018. “These horrific accusations have shocked me to my core and all of my relations have been consensual… I will relentlessly fight against any untruthful character assassination that paints me as a man of violence."
See more on the #MeToo and Time's Up movements in the video below.
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