Smokey Robinson, accused of rape by way of ex-staff, information defamation lawsuit – National | Globalnews.ca

NOTE: The following article incorporates traumatic main points of sexual attack. Please learn at your individual discretion.

Music legend Smokey Robinson is suing 4 of his former workers for defamation once they filed a lawsuit towards the singer in early May accusing him of sexual attack and rape.

Robinson and his spouse, Frances Gladney, countersued the gang of housekeepers in Los Angeles on Wednesday, accusing the ladies of false claims of sexual attack as a part of an “extortionate” lawsuit.

The Motown legend’s accusers say they had been afraid to return ahead till now over fears of dropping their livelihoods and immigration standing — all 4 plaintiffs are immigrants of Hispanic descent.

The accusers, who filed their nameless swimsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court, are in the hunt for a minimum of US$50 million in damages. The ladies say they skilled abuse between 2007 and 2024, and labour violations together with a adverse paintings surroundings, illegally lengthy hours and loss of pay.

The singer has denied the allegations and is these days beneath investigation for sexual attack. His attorneys argue that the complainants are after his cash.

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The couple claims that the ladies accompanied them on circle of relatives holidays and celebrated vacations in combination.

“The Robinsons did not abuse, harm, or take advantage of plaintiffs; they treated plaintiffs with the utmost kindness and generosity,” their lawsuit states.

Robinson’s attorneys have additionally filed a movement to brush aside the accusers’ lawsuit at the foundation that they must now not had been granted anonymity.

The accusers filed on May 6 as Jane Doe 1, 2, 3 and 4.

The long criminal report refers to a minimum of 50 separate alleged incidents of rape, courting again virtually twenty years, the place Robinson is accused of forcing his former team into intercourse.

Jane Doe 1, who used to be employed in January 2023, claimed she used to be left with out a selection however to renounce in February 2024 after experiencing a lot of attacks.

According to the submitting, she would paintings by way of herself on the circle of relatives house on weekends. On Saturdays, Robinson would take his spouse to the nail salon after which rush house to be by myself with Jane Doe 1.

“Upon returning home, Defendant Smokey Robinson would call her into his blue bedroom, lock the door and escort their dog Shilo out of the room. He will have showered and clothed only in his underwear. He would then neatly place a white towel on his bed, not to soil the bed linens, in preparation for what was about to occur,” the lawsuit states, including that he would “roughly penetrate” her, inflicting “great pain.”

The plaintiff says she protested and tried to flee his attacks, to no avail. According to the lawsuit, Jane Doe 1 used to be assaulted in the sort of method a minimum of seven instances.

Similarly, Jane Doe 2 resigned from her place in 2020, following years of alleged attacks that she says began in 2016.

The submitting says Robinson started summoning her by means of textual content message to spaces of his place of dwelling now not beneath safety digital camera surveillance, together with the storage, the laundry room and his blue bed room, the place he would pressure himself upon her and rape her, allegedly on 23 events.

If Jane Doe 2 protested, Robinson would threaten her, announcing he would get his spouse to “be mean” to her, the submitting states, including that his spouse had wisdom of the abuse and did not act.

Jane Doe 3, who labored for the Robinsons for 12 years from 2012 till 2024, when she resigned, claims to had been sexually assaulted by way of the musician for just about everything of her tenure. On one instance, he introduced her $500 in change for oral intercourse, a proposition she says she refused, consistent with court docket paperwork. She claims to had been raped by way of Robinson a minimum of 20 instances.

Jane Doe 4 says she used to be pressured to renounce in 2024, having labored for the circle of relatives since 2006, because of repeated sexual attacks by way of Robinson, together with rape and day-to-day harassment.

Robinson, a member of each the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame, used to be some of the largest hitmakers of the 1960s, each together with his team the Miracles and as a solo artist, with songs together with Tears of a Clown and The Tracks of My Tears.

He used to be a central a part of the Motown Records song system in his place of birth of Detroit as an artist, manufacturer and songwriter for different artists.

— With information from The Associated Press

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