Russell Simmons has continually denied that he’s raped or sexually assaulted any of the women who have come forward.
Now, the music mogul claims that Jennifer Jarosik—who has accused Simmons of rape and filed a $5 million lawsuit in January—sent him texts and nude photographs after the purported rape, and that she’s just looking for a big payday.
According to TMZ, Simmons says that he had a casual, consensual relationship with Jarosik for years. Simmons also says that Jarosik only came forward “after hearing that women were able to recover money for real abuse by sexual predators, did Ms. Jarosik decide to see if she could extract large amounts of money” from him.
He cites that a court previously found Jarosik to have a “propensity to exaggerate” and suffers from “untreated mental health issues.”
Jarosik alleges that in 2016, while at Simmons’ home, he suggested the two have sex. She allegedly declined, and says he became aggressive, assaulting and raping her. Multiple women have accused Simmons of sexual assault; another woman came forward in late March, claiming Simmons raped her.
Simmons previously told TMZ, "I vehemently deny all the allegations made against me. They have shocked me to my core as I have never been abusive or violent in any way in my relations with women. I have submitted myself to multiple lie detector tests. I denied forced sex and sexual harassment allegations brought against me in each test; I also answered no to the question, 'Have you ever physically forced any woman to have sexual intercourse?' I passed all of the lie detector tests."
