UPDATE, March 9: Representatives for Chris Brown directed Billboard‘s attention to a story on RadarOnline that includes text messages allegedly sent by the unidentified Jane Doe suing Chris Brown and the singer himself. His reps believe the messages exonerate Brown of the accusations. “I can confirm they are accurate,” the rep says of the text messages. “His team believes they clearly address the situation and no further amplification or clarification is necessary.”
Rolling Stone reported that the unnamed woman lost her legal representation after the uncovering of the text messages, which the Miami Beach Police reportedly sent to her legal team last week after investigating the allegations; her attorneys confirmed to the magazine that they dropped the woman as a client due to unspecified “information” obtained from police last Thursday.
“We were not made aware that the information existed (prior to filing). It precludes us from going forward for a number of reasons,” lawyer George Vrabeck reportedly told RS. “It’s not a comment on whether an assault happened or not, but it precludes us from going forward.”
Jan. 28: Chris Brown has been sued for $20 million by a woman who claims the singer drugged and raped her on a yacht docked outside Diddy’s Star Island home in Miami in late December 2020. According to a copy of the lawsuit obtained by Billboard that was filed in Los Angeles Super Court on Jan. 27, a professional choreographer/dancer/model/musician identified only as Jane Doe and a friend were invited to the yacht on Dec. 30, 2020, by a male friend.
The suit claims that during a call from the male friend ahead of the yacht visit, Brown grabbed the phone and told Doe that “he had heard about her music and urged her to head over to Diddy’s home on Star Island as soon as possible.” (A spokesperson for Diddy has not yet returned a request for comment.) When the woman arrived, the suit claims that Brown offered her a mixed drink in the kitchen, and after they discussed her music career, “Brown offered her tips about starting a career in the music industry.”
Brown then allegedly filled Doe’s cup again, after which she became “disoriented, physically unstable, and started to fall in and out of sleep,” according to the suit. Doe then claims she was led down a hallway into a bedroom, with Brown allegedly closing the door and blocking her from leaving the room.
The complaint alleges that Brown then undressed and raped the woman, ejaculating inside of her and saying “he was ‘done.'” The following day, Brown allegedly demanded that Doe take the emergency contraceptive pill Plan B.
Attorney George Vrabeck of Vrabeck Adams & Co. Inc., who represents Jane Doe, told Billboard, “[My partner] Ariel Mitchell and [I] intend to hold ALL parties accountable so that we might begin to eradicate this behavior from our society. Our client deserves justice. The same justice that all victims of sexual abuse deserve.” The suit seeks $20 million in damages, as well as punitive damages and attorney’s fees.
A spokesperson for Brown has not yet returned requests for comment on the allegations.
In an Instagram Story on Friday (Jan. 28), Brown wrote — without mentioning the lawsuit — “I HOPE YALL SEE THIS PATTERN OF [lying] whenever im releasing music or projects, ‘THEY’ try to pull some real bulls–t.”
Brown has a history of legal issues tied to allegations of assault, stretching from his guilty plea for felony assault following his attack on then-girlfriend Rihanna on the eve of the 2009 Grammy Awards, to a May 2018 accusation in which a woman filed a lawsuit that named Brown alongside rapper Young Lo, claiming sexual battery, gender violence, hate violence and assault in connection with a 2017 sex party at Brown’s L.A. home at which the woman claimed she was raped by Lo and another person, and forced to participate in sexual activity against her will. In response to the latter, Brown’s attorney said at the time that “there’s no case here,” and that his investigation showed that “none of these allegations are true.” E! News reported in April 2020 that the woman’s lawyer, Gloria Allred, said Brown had privately settled the lawsuit.