Kevin Liles Hit with Explosive Lawsuit

Last year music exec Kevin Liles raised eyebrows after abruptly stepping down from 300 Entertainment [click here if you missed that]. 

Now Liles is being sued by a Jane Doe accusing him of sixual assault...

From Variety

Kevin Liles, the veteran music executive who has played a key role in D’Angelo and Young Thug’s careers, has been sued by a Jane Doe claiming that he sixually assaulted her during her employment at Def Jam in the early 2000s.

In the suit, filed in New York Supreme Court and reviewed by Variety, Doe named Universal Music Group, Def Jam and Liles as defendants. She filed under the Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Law, which was granted an amendment in 2022 to allow survivors whose claims were previously time-barred to file suit before March 1, 2025.

At the time of the alleged assault, Liles served as President of Def Jam and EVP of Island Def Jam, holding tenure from 1999 to 2004. Doe claims that she started working at Def Jam as an executive assistant to the general manager around 1999 and that Liles began sexually harassing her soon after, making “derogatory and degrading comments based on her gender regarding her body and appearance.” From 2000 to 2002, the sixual harassment escalated, with Liles allegedly pushing his body against her breasts and grabbing her behind.

In 2002, Doe says that she was at the office with Liles when he made sixual advances that she rebuffed. He then allegedly forced himself on top of her and rxped her despite continued protests. The suit claims that UMG and Def Jam “not only knew or should have known” of Liles’ “propensity to commit the aforementioned crimes of violence,” but also enabled how he engaged with employees.

In a statement shared with Variety, Doe’s attorney Lucas B. Franken, partner at Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala PLLC, said, “We commend our client for her determination to seek justice for the sexual abuse she endured, as well as the sheer bravery it took to come forward against a well-known, celebrity figure. In our lengthy experience defending sixual abuse victims, we have witnessed a common thread and that is that they are often not alone in their abuse. Based on the violent and egregious conduct, we expect that others were also abused, and we hope that they can also come forward to share their experiences and pursue justice.”

Representatives for Liles and UMG, which owns Def Jam, did not respond to Variety‘s request for comment.