LOS ANGELES (AP) — Smokey Robinson has filed a defamation lawsuit towards 4 former housekeepers who accused him of rape and prompted a police investigation.
Robinson and his spouse Frances Robinson filed the counterclaim Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court docket towards the ladies and their legal professionals, whose allegations, they are saying, have been “fabricated in an extortionate scheme.”
The submitting is a quick and forceful authorized and public pushback from the 85-year-old Motown music luminary in response to the ladies’s Might 6 lawsuit and a Might 15 announcement from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Division that its Particular Victims Bureau is “actively investigating criminal allegations” towards Robinson.
The ladies are searching for no less than $50 million, alleging Smokey Robinson repeatedly raped and sexually assaulted them in his dwelling after they labored for him between 2007 and 2024. They mentioned Frances Robinson, a co-defendant, enabled him and created an abusive office.
The counterclaim opens with pleasant textual content messages from the ladies to contradict their claims towards Robinson, whose songs, together with “Tears of a Clown” and “The Tracks of My Tears,” established him among the many largest hitmakers of the Nineteen Sixties.
The submitting says the ladies “stayed with the Robinsons year after year,” vacationed with them, celebrated holidays with them, exchanged items with them, requested for tickets to his concert events, and sought and obtained assist from them together with cash for dental surgical procedure, monetary help for a disabled member of the family, and “even a car.”
The submitting — which incorporates pictures from the holidays and gatherings as reveals — says that regardless of the couple’s generosity, the ladies “secretly harbored resentment for the Robinsons and sought to enrich themselves through the Robinsons’ wealth.”
“Unfortunately, the depths of Plaintiffs’ avarice and greed know no bounds,” the counterclaim says. “During the very time that the Robinsons were being extraordinarily generous with Plaintiffs, Plaintiffs were concocting an extortionate plan to take everything from the Robinsons.”
John Harris and Herbert Hayden, attorneys for the previous housekeepers, mentioned in a press release that the defamation go well with “is nothing more than an attempt to silence and intimidate the survivors of Mr. Robinson’s sexual battery and assault. It is a baseless and vindictive legal maneuver designed to re-victimize, shift blame and discourage others from coming forward.”
The legal professionals mentioned they intend to get the Robinsons’ lawsuit thrown out by invoking California’s legal guidelines towards utilizing the courts to silence and intimidate individuals who sue.
The 4 ladies, whose names are withheld of their lawsuit, every allege that Robinson would wait till they have been alone with him in his Los Angeles home after which sexually assault and rape them. One lady mentioned she was assaulted no less than 20 instances whereas working for Robinson from 2012 till 2024. One other mentioned she labored for him from 2014 till 2020 and was assaulted no less than 23 instances.
The Sheriff’s Division would give no particulars on its investigation past confirming its existence.
Robinson, who was a central determine within the Motown Data machine together with his group the Miracles and as a solo artist, is a member of each the Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame and the Songwriters Corridor of Fame.
