Trey Songz, Atlantic Records, Kevin Liles Sued Over Rape Claim

Trey Songz has been hit with a new $25 million lawsuit stemming from a previous sexual assault accusation, according to court documents obtained by Rolling Stone. The suit also names the R&B singer’s label Atlantic Records, manager Kevin Liles and 300 Entertainment as defendants, claiming the parties should be held responsible for the singer’s actions. 

The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles on Thursday, is linked to a sexual battery lawsuit filed by a Jane Doe last February against the 38-year-old (real name Tremaine Neverson) over claims he sodomized the woman during a party in March 2016. 

In a statement given to Rolling Stone, Doe’s attorney George Vrabeck calls out Atlantic Records, which signed Neverson in the early 2000s, as well as Neverson’s manager Liles and 300, the label he co-founded, for effectively turning a blind eye to the growing number of accusations against the singer throughout the years.

“This case is much more than about one singer and one viciously abused sexual assault survivor who has the courage to take action,” Vrabeck says. “It’s also very much about the systematic sexual abuse in the music industry and the music industry’s complicity in silencing sexual abuse survivors. It’s virtually impossible to believe that those executives are not and were not aware of the institutionalized sexual abuse.” (Reps for Neverson, Liles, 300 and Atlantic did not immediately reply to requests for comment.)

Doe’s allegations mirror those in her first lawsuit, which was dismissed last November after Neverson’s team argued her claim was past the statute of limitations. The two were at a party in the West Hills section of Los Angeles when Neverson allegedly led Doe to a bedroom. Acknowledging the two had a consensual sexual history, Doe claims she was expecting to have another consensual encounter. However once inside the room, she says things were different.

Neverson allegedly threw Doe to the ground and anally raped her, ignoring her as she screamed in pain, fought to get free and begged him to stop, according to the lawsuit. Following the alleged attack, Doe claims her concerned Lyft driver took her to a nearby hospital where she claims that she was given medical treatment and sexual assault counseling. 

After the encounter, Doe claims Neverson harassed her when they bumped into each other on nights out, including during a New Year’s Eve party where he allegedly shouted that she was a “slut” and a “liar,” and had security eject her from the event. The fear of Neverson was so great, the suit alleges, that Doe moved to another state. But even there, she says, she was threatened, claiming that another musician instructed her to “keep [Neverson’s] name out her fucking mouth or he’d kill her.” Doe says she changed the color of her hair and is planning on moving to another new state this year. 

Doe’s new suit also names Atlantic Records, Liles and his 300 Entertainment label as defendants, arguing that by continuing to have a working relationship with Neverson and overseeing his career, they “are responsible in some manner” for Neverson’s behavior. 

Naming record labels and affiliated associates is a relatively new strategy that legal teams are incorporating in sex abuse claims against musicians. Last month, Interscope and its imprint Nothing Records were named in a civil case brought against Marilyn Manson by a different Jane Doe accuser who claims she was a minor when the shock rocker groomed and sexually assaulted her several times in the mid-1990s. Those labels were allegedly not only aware of Manson’s behavior, the suit claims, but lacked safety guards and proper policies to prevent such abuse from taking place. The suit adds that the labels had a responsibility to protect Manson’s Jane Doe from any harm and instead of protecting fans, they promoted and financially benefited off of the musician.

Trey Songz’s accuser points out that she’s not the first to accuse Neverson of such behavior, listing 10 other incidents in which Neverson was accused of sexual assault, sexual intimidation or physical violence against men and women — including three times before her alleged assault — each garnering substantial press coverage. 

Most recently, Neverson turned himself in to New York City police after he was accused of punching a man and a woman at a bowling alley last November. The woman told police Neverson had “dragged her by the hair” after she allegedly tried to stop him from entering a bathroom with a woman from his entourage. 

Last April, a woman claimed Neverson had groped her and exposed her breast during a pool party in 2013, seeking a $5 million settlement to avoid heading to court. That January, former college basketball player Dylan Gonzalez accused Neverson of raping her in Las Vegas. (Gonzalez’s claim is separate from the woman who accused Neverson of sexually assaulting her during his birthday celebrations in Nov. 2021. Las Vegas police closed the investigation in April.)

Neverson was also sued for $10 million in Miami in Dec. 2021 by a woman who claimed she had felt his “fingers being inserted into her vagina” without her consent during a New Year’s Eve party in 2018.

From Rolling Stone US.