Hip-hop music industry legend, Kevin Liles sued for allegedly s£xu@lly ass@ulting former employee

R&B and hip-hop executive, Kevin Liles has been accused of s£xual ass@ult and r@pe in a newly filed lawsuit.

According to Variety, the unnamed woman who filed the lawsuit against Liles, who stepped down as Warner Music Group Executive VP last year, alleged that he s£xually ass@ulted her while she was an employee at Def Jam in the early 2000s,

Her lawsuit, which was filed in the New York Supreme Court, also names Def Jam Recordings and its parent company Universal Music Group (UMG) as defendants.

According to Jane Doe, she was hired at Def Jam to work as an executive assistant to the general manager around 1999. 

She alleges that Liles began s£xu@lly harassing her not long after she started working at the label. 

He would allegedly make 'derogatory and degrading comments based on her gender regarding her body and appearance.'

His alleged campaign of s£xu@l harassment became more severe beginning in 2000, and the anonymous woman claims that he would press his body into her breasts and grab her rear end.

In a 2002 incident, the woman alleges that Liles came on to her before she rejected him.

She claims he then forcibly r@ped her even as she continued to resist him.

Regarding UMG and Def Jam's connection to the lawsuit, she says that the labels 'now only knew or should have known' about the executive's 'propensity to commit the aforementioned crimes of violence,' but that they also enabled his behavior with subordinate employees.

Jane Doe's attorney, Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala PLLC partner Lucas B. Franken, said in a statement to Variety: 'We commend our client for her determination to seek justice for the sexual abuse she endured, as well as the sheer bravery it took to come forward against a well-known, celebrity figure. 

'In our lengthy experience defending sexual abuse victims, we have witnessed a common thread and that is that they are often not alone in their abuse,' he continued. ‘Based on the violent and egregious conduct, we expect that others were also abused, and we hope that they can also come forward to share their experiences and pursue justice.’

In 2023, Liles was named as a defendant in a lawsuit filed against the singer Trey Songz, whom he manages.

The anonymous woman who filed the suit alleged that the executive had turned a blind eye to multiple accusations against Songz.

The lawsuit, which requested $25 million in damages, was settled last year.

In September of last year, Liles announced via internal memo that he was stepping down as executive vice president at Warner Music Group.

The music executive, who rose to the upper echelons of the music industry after getting his start as a DJ, also announced that he would be leaving Warner's subsidiary record label 300 Elektra Entertainment.

He served as the chairman and CEO of the label, which was the descendant of 300 Entertainment, which he co-founded in 2012 with Lyor Cohen, Roger Gold and Todd Moscowitz.