Music Exec Kevin Liles Says Sexual Assault Lawsuit Is ‘Patently False’ and Must Be Dismissed

Record executive Kevin Liles is asking a federal judge to throw out a lawsuit accusing him of sexual assault in the early 2000s, arguing there’s zero evidence for the “salacious” allegations because they are “entirely false.”

In a letter to the judge filed Tuesday, attorneys for the 300 Entertainment founder say they’re planning to file a motion to dismiss the case, which alleges that Liles harassed and sexually assaulted an unnamed female employee while serving as the president of Def Jam Records in 2002.

“During his storied career, Mr. Liles has never faced a single accusation of sexual impropriety,” his attorneys write. “That is, until plaintiff filed this patently false and untimely lawsuit some twenty-three years after the alleged conduct purportedly occurred.”

Liles’ lawyers say the Jane Doe’s lawsuit contains only generic accusations and almost no specific details to support her allegations – an omission that they say is “not surprising as the claims are entirely false.”

“Beyond these threadbare assertions, spanning only three paragraphs, plaintiff offers zero factual bases for her salacious allegations,” his attorneys say “This court need not credit Plaintiff’s threadbare recitals and ‘defendant-unlawfully-harmed-me’ accusations.”

Liles served as president of Universal Music Group’s Def Jam Recordings and executive vice president of the Island Def Jam Music Group from 1999 to 2004. After a stint at Warner Music Group, he co-founded 300 Entertainment in 2012 with Lyor Cohen, Roger Gold and Todd Moscowitz. The label, which quickly gained recognition for developing hip-hop superstars like Megan Thee Stallion, Migos and Young Thug, was acquired by Warner in 2021 for $400 million. In September, Liles announced he would step down from his role as chairman and CEO.

The case against Liles was filed in February by a woman who says she was hired as an executive assistant at UMG in 1999. She claims that Liles began sexually harassing her shortly after she was hired, which then “escalated” into groping. In an alleged 2002 incident, Doe says he assaulted her after she rebuffed his advances.

“Kevin Liles proceeded to physically force himself on top of [Jane Doe] where he began to sexually assault and ultimately rape her despite her continued protests,” her attorneys wrote in their complaint.

But in Tuesday’s response, Lile’s attorneys say those allegations are woefully insufficient, arguing they lack the kind of basic facts required to bring legal allegations in court. They say Doe “does little more than simply assert in conclusory form that Mr. Liles assaulted her.”

“Plaintiff offers no detail whatsoever regarding the nature of the purported assault she suffered,” they write. “She fails … to explain when these purported acts occurred, where in UMG’s offices they occurred, identify a single person she reported this information to, or who was present.”

As for the rape allegation, Liles’ attorneys say the case is similarly lacking: “Like the other specific details she fails to provide, plaintiff does not offer a specific time, how she came to be in contact with Mr. Liles who she neither reported to nor worked for, or anything other than the conclusory assertion that she suffered an assault.”

Beyond the alleged deficiencies in the case, attorneys for Liles say the case should also be dismissed for a simpler reason: That it was filed well beyond the statute of limitations. Doe’s attorneys sued under a New York state law that created a one-year window to file such cases, but did so after the deadline to bring them: “Plaintiff failed to assert any claim against Mr. Liles whatsoever during that one-year window, and it has now closed.”

UMG, which was named as a co-defendant in the case, also filed a letter Tuesday saying it would seek to dismiss the case. The music giant’s attorneys have similar protests about time limits, but also argue more broadly that they cannot be sued over alleged actions by one of its executives.

“UMGR cannot be held liable for the alleged actions of Mr. Liles,” the company’s attorneys write, referring to UMG Recordings. “Assuming he had engaged in the conduct alleged, UMGR is a music company and the alleged conduct was indisputably not in furtherance of any business of UMGR.”