UPDATE 2/15, 5:42 p.m. ET: Jauhara Jeffries’ lawyer Ariel Mitchell slammed the allegations of witness tampering brought forth by Trey Songz and told TMZ that they “unequivocally denounce the allegations pled in Defendant Songz’s motion.”
Mitchell also called the allegations “a desperate attempt to shift the narrative from his abhorrent and egregious behavior” and said that they were “dangerously close to the line of a defamation lawsuit.”
Mitchell continued, “This is nothing more than bullying and an attempt to silence counsel and the many victims who have been assaulted by Defendant Songz and will be vigorously defended in court. I will further be exonerated as I was when this allegation was previously made by Defendant Songz’s prior attorney.”
See original story below.
Trey Songz is claiming the legal team of a woman suing him over an alleged sexual assault is tampering with witnesses.
As reported by TMZ, Jauhara Jeffries is accusing the singer of assaulting her while out on New Year’s Eve in 2017 at E11VEN nightclub, when she says Songz—legal name Tremaine Neverson—penetrated her with his finger without consent.
Songz’s legal team says an unnamed witness—whom they claim was with Songz and Jeffries that night and denies seeing the assault—was approached by Jeffries’ lead attorney to testify differently. According to Songz’s lawyers, the alleged witness “never saw [Songz] inappropriately touch Plaintiff or ‘anything that could have resembled that.’”
“Defendant Tremaine Neverson moves for sanctions against Plaintiff and her counsel for witness tampering,” reads a motion by Songz’s legal team obtained by Complex. “[Witness 1] is an independent witness who was with Plaintiff and Defendant during the entirety of the period relevant to Plaintiff’s claim. [Witness 1] states—by an affidavit attached to this Motion and through recorded statements that may be presented at an evidentiary hearing—that the assault described in the Complaint never happened.”
Jeffrey Neiman, Songz’s lawyer, claims in a legal document that the witness said Jeffries’ lawyer Ariel Mitchell hoped to bring her in as a co-plaintiff, and offered a payout between $100,000 and $200,000. TMZ reports that Mitchell also represents another of Songz’s accusers, Dylan Gonzalez, who claimed earlier this year that the singer committed an assault against her at a Las Vegas hotel.
Gonzalez detailed her rape allegation on Instagram and Twitter on Jan. 12, and encouraged those who have been assaulted to come forward, adding that “you can not heal what you do not reveal.”
“With what seems like endlessly recurring news of the alleged sexually assaults committed by Trey Songz, I am forced to repeatedly relive in my mind, and suffer anew, the long-suppressed horror and unbearable PTSD of my rape by his very hands at a well known Las Vegas hotel,” Gonzalez wrote. “I want to send my love, strength, and hope to all who are victims of sexual assault and its fatal nature. You are not alone.”
