Former Def Jam President Kevin Liles says the sexual assault allegations leveled against him by a Jane Doe plaintiff are “patently false” and asked the court for permission to file a motion to permanently dismiss the woman’s lawsuit.
In a letter to a federal judge filed Tuesday, Liles’ lawyer says the Jane Doe claims Liles sexually harassed and assaulted her between 2000 and 2002, but “offers zero factual bases for her salacious allegations.” The lawyer says the woman’s complaint includes only “threadbare assertions” without describing what Liles purportedly said to her in Universal Music Group’s offices more than 20 years ago or what he did when she purportedly rebuffed his advances.
“Plaintiff offers no detail whatsoever regarding the nature of the purported assault she suffered,” Liles’ lawyer Krystal C. Durham says in the letter obtained by Rolling Stone. “She alleges that at unspecified times, and in unspecified locations, during a two-year window – again, over twenty years ago – Mr. Liles sexually harassed and assault her. She fails, however, to explain when these purported acts occurred, where in UMG’s offices they occurred, identify a single person she reported this information to, or who was present.”
The lawyer claims the complaint is too deficient to survive because the woman further failed to give a date, location, or context for her “serious” allegation that Liles forced himself on her. “She, again, provides no detail regarding the purported event and submits only the bare conclusion that Mr. Liles’s alleged conduct amounted to rape and sexual assault,” the lawyer wrote, claiming the Jane Doe “neither reported to nor worked for” Liles.
Durham wrote that Liles’ proposed motion to dismiss also would challenge the Jane Doe’s right to file her lawsuit under the two-year lookback window provided by New York City’s Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Law. Other defendants in similar cases have likewise challenged the GMVL, claiming New York’s statewide Adult Survivors Act pre-empted any overlapping local laws and closed the revival window for good on any claims throughout the state when it expired in November 2023. Many lawsuits have survived similar challenges to the GMVL’s revival window, but the issue of preemption is now the subject of at least one appeal in the Second Circuit.
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The judge overseeing the lawsuit against Liles did not immediately rule on his request for permission to seek dismissal. UMG Recordings, meanwhile, filed a similar letter Tuesday asking for leave to file its own dismissal motion. The company’s lawyers argued that UMGR is “a music company, and the alleged conduct was indisputably not in furtherance of any business of UMGR.”
In her lawsuit, the Jane Doe alleged she was hired by the corporate defendants in 1999, with Liles acting as her supervisor. She alleged Liles sexually harassed her on numerous occasions during her tenure, including one time when Liles allegedly “pressed his body against [her] breasts,” and “grabbed [her] on the buttocks.”
Shortly after Jane Doe filed her lawsuit, Liles vehemently denied the allegations. “I absolutely deny the outrageous claims reported in the press this evening,” he said in a statement to Rolling Stone. “After nearly 40 years of service to our culture, I’ve intentionally built a reputation for doing things the right way, treating people the right way, and empowering women. It is a shameful reality that these lies spread so freely.
“My attorneys and I will fully clear my name, and when we are successful, this anonymous accuser and her attorney will face a defamation lawsuit and every other available legal consequence.”
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After his time as president at Def Jam, Liles, 57, went on to become the co-founder and CEO of 300 Entertainment, a label whose artists include Young Thug, Gunna, Fetty Wap, and Mary J. Blige. Liles, who previously testified at a court hearing in an attempt to get Young Thug released on bond during the rapper’s RICO prosecution in Atlanta, announced he was stepping down from 300 Entertainment last September.
The Jane Doe behind the lawsuit claims UMGR and Def Jam should be held liable for her alleged abuse because they “enabled, permitted, directed, controlled, approved, managed, operated and ratified the manner in which Liles engaged with employees.” She is asking for compensatory and punitive damages to be decided at trial.
