Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons accused of rape by four women

Russell Simmons, the embattled entertainment mogul who recently stepped down from his businesses amid allegations of sexual misconduct, has been accused of similar impropriety by nine more women, according to separate exposés published by the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday. Four of the women say Simmons raped them.

Three women told the New York Times that Simmons raped them in incidents between 1988 and 1995: Drew Dixon, who worked as an executive under Simmons at Def Jam Recordings; Toni Sallie, a music journalist; and Tina Baker, a singer Simmons managed in the early ’90s.

Sherri Hines, a member of the all-female hip-hop group Mercedes Ladies, also told the Los Angeles Times that Simmons raped her in his office around 1983.

Another woman, Christina Moore, told the New York Times that she met Simmons in Miami in 2014 and that he became sexually aggressive toward her in his room at the Soho Beach House, prompting her to flee. “I felt assaulted,” she said.

Four additional women who spoke to the Los Angeles Times accused Simmons of sexual misconduct across several decades.

He added, “I have enormous respect for the women’s movement worldwide and their struggle for respect, dignity, equality, and power. I am devastated by any reason I may have given to anyone to say or think of me in the ways that are currently being described.”

The New York Times and Los Angeles Times reports come in the wake of other women accusing Simmons of sexual misconduct, including model Keri Claussen Khalighi and screenwriter Jenny Lumet (daughter of filmmaker Sidney Lumet). Simmons previously denied their allegations.