Document govt Antonio “L.A.” Reid has settled a sexual assault lawsuit from former worker Drew Dixon, avoiding a jury trial that was set to start Monday.
In 2023, Dixon filed a lawsuit below the New York Grownup Survivors Act, alleging abuse from Reid together with sexual harassment, assault and retaliation whereas she labored below him as an A&R consultant at Arista Data.
Dixon alleged in her swimsuit that Reid “digitally penetrated her vulva with out her consent” on a non-public airplane in 2001, and groped and kissed her towards her will in one other incident months later. She claims in her swimsuit that Reid retaliated towards her after she spurned his advances, berating her in entrance of employees after she introduced in a younger Kanye West for a label audition.
Reid stated in court docket filings that he “adamantly denies the allegations,” however they contributed to the previous mogul’s declining fame throughout the music business, after Reid left Epic Data in 2017 following separate claims of harassment.
Reid’s legal professional Imran H. Ansari stated in an announcement to The Instances that “Mr. Reid has amicably resolved this matter with Ms. Dixon with none admission of legal responsibility.” Phrases of the settlement weren’t disclosed.
In an announcement to The Instances, Dixon stated that “I hope my work as an advocate for the Grownup Survivors Act helps to deliver us nearer to a safer music enterprise for everybody. In a world the place excellent news is commonly laborious to seek out, I hope for survivors that at this time is a ray of sunshine peeking by means of the clouds. Music has all the time been my biggest supply of consolation and pleasure. Whilst a child, I had an uncanny knack for predicting the following cool artist or album, the extra eclectic the higher. Whereas I’ve centered on sexual assault advocacy lately, I’ve by no means stopped preventing for my place on this business.”
The jury trial was slated to have testimony from some high-profile figures together with John Legend, whom Dixon had tried to signal to the label. Dixon additionally accused the Def Jam mogul Russell Simmons of sexual assault in a 2017 New York Instances article and within the 2020 documentary “On The Document.”
