A California jury found Grammy-nominated rapper Soulja Boy liable for claims he assaulted, sexually battered and harassed a Jane Doe plaintiff while she worked as his personal assistant, lived with him and entered into a sometimes-consensual intimate relationship with him in 2019 and 2020.
After two days of deliberations, the jury announced Thursday that the “Crank That” rapper, born DeAndre Cortez Way, owes the woman $4 million in compensatory damages. The panel now moves on to a second phase of the trial to determine punitive damages. Way will return to testify Thursday afternoon about his net worth.
In their slightly mixed decision, the jurors found that Way placed the woman in fear and subjected her to sexually offensive contact, gender violence and intentional infliction of emotional distress. They found the woman also suffered “severe or pervasive” harassment when she worked for Way between Jan. 10, 2019 and July 20, 2019. The jury declined to award anything for the woman’s false imprisonment and hostile work environment claims, finding Way did not deprive her of her freedom or ability to resign.
As the verdict was read, Way looked straight ahead. He appeared to have a faint smile on his face when the clerk revealed the jury had awarded $760,000 for the woman’s assault claim. His expression dropped after he heard the jury awarded $1.5 million for the sexual battery cause of action. He left the courtroom with his head down shortly after the clerk said the jurors decided he should face punitive damages as well.
“The district attorney never filed charges. I was never charged or convicted of this, criminally. So, to be accused of this civilly is beyond me. I’ve never done any of the things they’re accusing me of. I just feel like this is very unfair,” Way told Rolling Stone Thursday afternoon. In a longer, prepared statement that he read off his phone, Way said, “I want to make it clear that I’m innocent. This case was never about justice. It was about money and personal gain, and I will not let that stand. I am committed to filing an appeal and fighting for the truth to be revealed.”
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Jane Doe’s lead lawyer, Ronald Zambrano, praised the verdict, saying, “We’re happy our client was vindicated.” His co-counsel, Neama Rahmani, said the Jane Doe was particularly grateful the jury found Way liable on the sexual assault claims. “Those were the ones that certainly caused the most damage,” he said. “She feels vindicated because he called her a liar. He said she was never an employee – nothing more than a disgruntled, jealous, lying ex. And the jury rejected that argument.” Rahmani said that prior to the trial, Way’s defense made a settlement offer of $100,000.
During closing arguments Monday, the woman wiped tears as her lawyer said she deserved $73.6 million in total damages for the alleged horrors she suffered at the hands of Way. Her attorney, Ronald Zambrano, painted Way as a brutal boss who regularly raped and beat the woman, subjected her to labor code violations and dressed up in non-prescription “fake glasses” and a suit to lie to jurors about the alleged abuse.
“He raped her, he punched her, he kicked her, he cut her. He picked up and then slammed her, choked her, left bruises from squeezing her arm. He grabbed her head by a mirror and said, ‘No one will love you,’” Zambrano told the jury of seven women and five men. “He pointed a Draco gun at her. He locked her in a room, threatened her family, threatened her, denied her food.”
The lawyer showed the jurors screen grabs from text messages between the woman and Way. In one exchange from April 20, 2020, Way texted “I hope u die slow.” The Jane Doe responded with, “You think you can keep hitting on me, you are crazy,” to which Way responded, “Fuck u bitch.” In other messages highlighted during the trial, the woman texted Way, “You body slammed me on my head and choked me,” and, “I should have just let you hit me. Idc anymore I feel lost now.” Zambrano said Way never responded to the woman’s texted accusations with protests that she was making false claims. He usually ignored them, Zambrano said. When Way did text the woman, he often asked her to complete tasks such as picking up his food, setting up his computer equipment and organizing his travel arrangements. Way also sent disparaging messages like, “I hope you catch corona, bitch,” and, “I should have killed your ass,” Zambrano told the jury.
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In Way’s defense, the rappers’ lead lawyer argued Way was the victim of an ex-girlfriend advancing a “false story” for money. The lawyer, Rickey Ivie, argued that when the woman first reported her allegations to police in December 2020, she didn’t tell the investigating deputy that Way allegedly knocked her unconscious on one occasion and separately smacked her in the mouth and forced her to engage in oral copulation. He said her story “evolved” over time. He also argued the woman could have escaped her alleged false imprisonment at Way’s house when she traveled through airports that were crawling with police.
Ivie urged jurors to interpret one December 2020 message sent by the woman as a demand for $50,000 and a Dodge Charger to resolve her claims. He called the effort “extortion” and pointed out that in one text from April 2020, Way did push back against the woman’s claims, telling her to “stop” texting him “police shit.” “Plaintiff is motivated by jealousy, revenge and financial gain,” Ivie told the jury. “She wanted to be paid. That’s what this case is all about. It’s not about the truth, it’s just not.”
The woman reported her alleged abuse to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office in December 2020. In April 2021, the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office “declined to file charges due to insufficient evidence to prove the alleged crimes true beyond a reasonable doubt,” an agency spokesperson previously told Rolling Stone.
Over the four-week civil trial, the jury heard directly from the woman, Way, several medical experts, a bodyguard and one of Way’s managers. In graphic and harrowing testimony delivered March 19, the woman described the purported bathroom attack during the police raid in 2019. She claimed Way chucked several guns out a window into a steep canyon and was trying to dispose of narcotics in a bathroom when he allegedly spun her around, pulled her pants down and “started having sex” with her. She didn’t immediately report the alleged attack to the sheriff’s deputies who raided the home because she was “terrified” of Way and possible retaliation, she testified.
“I feared for my life,” Doe told the jury on the fourth day of the civil trial. She claimed Way told her he knew where her mother lived and had threatened to “send shooters” to the house. “I was scared of what he would do to my family. I didn’t want him to hurt anybody because of me,” she testified.
The woman said she was so desperate for food while living with Way in early 2019, she gathered loose change from the home and gave it to the property’s gardeners so they could buy her instant noodles. She claimed she dropped from 140 pounds down to 86 pounds before Way was sent to jail in April 2019 for a probation violation linked to the raid. “I didn’t even feel human anymore. I felt like an animal,” she said.
When it was his turn to testify, Way admitted there was a sexual encounter with the woman when police showed up at the door of his $25,000-a-month rental home to serve the search warrant — but he claimed she consented. “I asked her if she wanted to have sex, and she was engaged in it,” he said. “She didn’t push me or say stop, nothing like that.”
Way, 34, denied he ever abused the woman in any way, claiming they “bonded” during their time together and always acted voluntarily. He said the woman would handle errands for him because he offered her a free place to live and they struck up a personal relationship, not because she was a paid employee. “Did you ever hit the plaintiff in the mouth, bust her lip, and force her to give you oral sex?” his lawyer Ivie asked during Way’s testimony. “Of course not, and that’s a disgusting allegation,” Way responded. “It sounds crazy to me. I did not do that.”
Way has also been accused of physical and sexual assault by former girlfriends Kayla Myers and model Nia Riley, the daughter of musician Teddy Riley. Way appeared on the reality shows Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood and Marriage Bootcamp with Riley. In 2021, Riley sat down with YouTube vlogger TashaK and said Way threatened her with a gun and kicked her in the stomach while she was pregnant, causing her to suffer a miscarriage.
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Myers claimed in a prior lawsuit that she had a romantic relationship with Way that ended when he allegedly held a gun to her head, threatened her life, and assaulted her at his home on Feb. 1, 2019. A civil court jury found Way liable for the assault and kidnapping of Myers at a prior trial.
Way is set to begin his 32-city Swag Tour this summer. His next concert is set for Friday, April 11, in San Luis Obispo, California.
