Rapper Nelly is being sued by a woman who claims he defamed her by calling her allegation that he raped her on a tour bus false.
University student Monique Greene, 22, is suing the 43-year-old in Washington, USA, for defamation and sexual assault.
Nelly was arrested on suspicion of rape in a Seattle Walmart car park in October, but prosecutors last week dropped the case when Ms Greene said she would not testify.
At this point the musician’s lawyer, Scott Rosenblum, said in a statement that his client had fallen victim to a “deceitful allegation devoid of credibility”.
In the lawsuit filed on Monday, Ms Greene’s lawyer, Karen Koehler, said: “Nelly has sought to restore his reputation due to his arrest for sexually assaulting Ms Greene by defaming her.”
Ms Greene claims Nelly, real name Cornell Iral Haynes Jr, invited her to an after-party when they met at one of his shows and then she was driven to the bus.
There, she claims, he led her to his bedroom at the rear of the vehicle and assaulted her despite her repeatedly refusing consent.
She was thrown off the bus when she became upset and then Nelly threw a 100 dollar (£75) bill at her before closing the door in the early hours of October 7, the lawsuit claims.
Ms Greene reported the incident to police that morning but later requested the investigation was dropped because she “felt she could not stand up against a celebrity”, Ms Koehler wrote.
As well as his lawyer’s statement, the lawsuit also points to a tweet from Nelly calling the allegation “false”, which Ms Koehler described as an attempted “intimidation of a witness”.
Let me say that I am beyond shocked that I have been targeted with this false allegation. I am completely innocent. I am confident that once the facts are looked at , it will be very clear that I am the victim of a false allegation.
— Nelly_Mo (@Nelly_Mo) October 7, 2017
Greene, who has waived her right to anonymity in the UK, has requested unspecified damages in the lawsuit.
Mr Rosenblum said Nelly plans to counter-sue, adding: “We always believed her accusation was motivated by greed.”
