A “Jane Doe” anonymous accuser has issued a summons with notice to veteran music executive Jimmy Iovine, accusing him of sexual abuse and harassment, among other allegations.
Representatives for the plaintiff filed the summons earlier today in the Supreme Court of the State of New York County. Court documents do not go into explicit detail about the nature of the allegations, but claim that Doe has “suffered as a result of being sexually abused, forcibly touched, and subjected to sexual harassment and retaliation in violation of anti-discrimination laws in or around August 2007.”
“We are quite shocked and baffled by this alleged claim,” a spokesperson for Iovine said in a statement to Variety. “This inquiry is the first we’ve heard of this matter. No one has ever made a claim like this against Jimmy Iovine, nor have we been contacted or made aware of any complaint by anyone, including this unknown plaintiff prior to now.”
This is the latest in a flurry of suits being filed under the Adult Survivors Act, which closes out Friday. The Act provided a one-year window to abuse victims to file beyond the statute of limitations, allowing those who were at least 18 years old to seek justice in their respective cases. In the past few weeks, high-profile suits were filed against Sean “Diddy” Combs (which was settled the next day), L.A. Reid, Neil Portnow and, earlier Wednesday morning, Axl Rose.
According to the court document, Doe is asserting claims pursuant to inter alia, New York common law for assault and battery; the New York City Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Act; and the New York City Human Rights Law. Attorneys are seeking compensation to be determined at trial, including for punitive damages, inter alia physical injury and more. Iovine is required to serve a notice of appearance or demand for complaint within 20 days after the summon’s servicing, or 30 days after service is complete if the summons isn’t delivered personally to him in New York.
Iovine, 70, is a storied music executive and entrepreneur who founded Interscope Records and served as chairman and CEO of Interscope Geffen A&M before moving over to Apple as part of a $3 billion deal that saw the tech giant acquiring Beats by Dre, the headphone company and streaming service he co-founded with Dr. Dre, in 2014; he has since retired. As a recording engineer and producer, he worked on classic albums from John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Stevie Nicks and U2.
