Male Celebrities and Statesmen Are Deluged With Lawsuits Alleging Decades-Old Sex Assaults as Window Opened by New York’s ‘Adult Survivors Act’ Closes

Mayor Adams, Jamie Foxx, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Governor Cuomo, and Axl Rose: these are a few of the high-profile names facing sexual assault allegations, after a slew of lawsuits was filed in recent weeks. The timing isn’t a coincidence: Thanksgiving marked the deadline for filing legal action under New York State’s Adult Survivors Act. The law, passed as part of the #metoo phenomenon, allowed women (and in a handful of cases, men) to file lawsuits alleging sex assault, even if the statute of limitations had long expired.Before the window to file closed last week, more than 3,700 legal claims had been made against celebrities, politicians, CEOs and other powerful men, with some of the cases being more than 30 years old. Governor Hochul signed the legislation in May 2022 and it went into effect six months later, giving victims who were older than 18 at the time they claimed they were sexually assaulted a one-year window to take legal action. Then-New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and the then-Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, Eric Adams, hold a joint news conference in Brooklyn where the two leaders spoke on the rising rates of gun violence across the city on July 14, 2021 in New York City. Both men have recently been accused of historic sexual assault by different women. Spencer Platt/Getty ImagesNow that the deadline has passed, some advocates are calling for a more permanent change to the law. “What we have learned is that trauma takes time — that when you’ve experienced a sexual assault, especially by somebody who was in a position of power, you may not be able to take action right away, that you need time to process what’s happened to you, and you need time to get support around you if you are going to pursue some kind of legal action,” the chief executive of victim assistance group Safe Horizon, Liz Roberts, told CNN.Her words echo Ms. Hochul’s when she signed the act into law last spring.“For many survivors, it may take years to come to terms with the trauma of sexual assault and feel ready to seek justice against an abuser, while possibly experiencing fear of retaliation or shame,” Ms. Hochul said in a statement. New York in 2019 extended the statute of limitations to 20 years for adults, she added, but that law “only affected new cases and was not retroactive.”Axl Rose performs at the public memorial for Lisa Marie Presley on January 22, 2023 at Memphis, Tennessee. Mr. Rose has recently been accused by a former Penthouse model, Sheila Kennedy, of raping her ‘in a sexual, volatile rage’ in 1989. Jason Kempin/Getty ImagesLeading up to the Thanksgiving holiday last week, a slew of cases were filed against prominent men.Mayor Adams is being sued by an unnamed woman who wants $5 million, alleging that Mr. Adams sexually assaulted her in 1993, when he was a transit cop in the New York Police Department and she was an administrative aid. The claims, which the mayor vociferously denies, have compounded the troubles he’s facing, including his campaign being the subject of a long running criminal investigation over fundraising and ties to Turkey. “It absolutely did not happen. I don’t recall ever meeting this person and I would never harm anyone in that magnitude. It did not happen,” Adams said of the alleged sex assault, in a video posted on X. Hip-hop star Sean “Diddy” Combs has been accused of sexual assault in three separate lawsuits this month. Mr. Combs settled one particularly lurid lawsuit, from his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura, while still denying the claims as well as those of the other suits.Steven Tyler of Aerosmith performs live on stage at the Wells Fargo Center on September 02, 2023 at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He has recently been sued for allegedly pushing a former child model, Jeanne Bellino, into a phone booth and ‘mauling’ her sexually. Lisa Lake/Getty Images“These are fabricated claims falsely alleging misconduct from over 30 years ago and filed at the last minute. This is nothing but a money grab. Because of Mr. Combs’ fame and success, he is an easy target for anonymous accusers who lie without conscience or consequence for financial benefit,” a representative for Combs told People.Another lawsuit alleges that the former New York governor, Andrew Cuomo, sexually assaulted his aide Brittany Commisso when he was in office in 2020, an allegation he has long-denied. Another suit accuses Oscar-winning actor Jamie Foxx of sexually assaulting a woman in 2015. Mr. Foxx says it never happened. In still another suit, the former Penthouse model Sheila Kennedy accuses Guns N’ roses star Axl Rose of raping her in 1989 “in a sexual, volatile rage” in a New York hotel. Mr. Rose forcefully denies the accusation.A New York Times reporter, Pulitzer Prize finalist and horse enthusiast, Sarah Maslin Nir, sued a celebrity fitness trainer, Garth Wakeford, for raping her at the Hamptons more than 20 years ago, when she was 18 and he was 31, after plying her with drinks.Mr. Wakeford, who would later achieve modest fame as the sometime boyfriend of “Countess” Luann de Lesseps on Bravo’s “Real Housewives” franchise, denied the allegations to Page Six, calling them “meritless and without basis.” The celebrated New York Times writer Sarah Maslin Nir poses in the lobby during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall 2007 February 4, 2007 in New York City. Ms. Nir has sued Garth Wakeford, the future boyfriend of ‘Countess’ Luann de Lesseps of Bravo’s ‘Real Housewives’ franchise, for allegedly drugging and raping her at the Hamptons more than 20 years ago. Katy Winn/Getty Images for IMGLegendary Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler, 75, has been sued by a former child model, Jeanne Bellino, who claims he pushed her into a phone booth on Sixth Avenue in Manhattan where he “mauled” her in the summer of 1975 when she was 17, causing her “permanent emotional distress.” Mr. Tyler, who is already facing a different sex abuse lawsuit filed last year by Julia Holcomb Misley, who says he abused her in the 1970s starting when she was 16, has not responded to requests for comment by multiple news organizations, including by the Sun.And in a rare case of men suing for assault, Mike Jeffries, the once-powerful CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch, is being sued by David Bradberry, a former cast member of Bravo’s “Below Deck” and sometime gay pornography performer, who is seeking class action status. Mr. Bradberry, whose allegations were recounted in a blockbuster BBC investigation last month, claims Mr. Jeffries and his partner, Matthew Smith, trafficked aspiring male models for years, luring them to group sex parties in exotic locations around the world with the prospect of becoming an Abercrombie model, then raping them. In one instance, Mr. Bradberry says Mr. Jeffries raped him at a mansion at the Hamptons. Mr. Jeffries’ attorneys told the BBC that their client, 79, is retired and will respond to the allegations in court. Abercrombie & Fitch recently said it has stopped paying Mr. Jeffries his annual $1 million retirement bonus while it investigates the allegations. It should be noted that not all these lawsuits target high-profile celebrities and politicians. One firm, Slater Slater Schulman LLP, says it has filed nearly 1,800 cases — in New York City and 20 counties in New York State — on behalf of individuals alleging sexual assault incidents that took place while they were incarcerated. Despite the cases being years old, the firm’s founding and managing partner, Adam Slater, tells the Sun there is plenty of evidence against the defendants.David Bradberry, a former cast member of Bravo’s ‘Below Deck,’ is accusing the former CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch, Mike Jeffries, of raping him at the Hamptons. Bravo “In addition to typical evidence, including witnesses, we have clients who had to be treated for STDs, including HIV, which were contracted during their incarceration. We have others who were impregnated and had abortions, or delivered the child and the officer’s name is on the birth certificate,” he says.There have been multiple reports, including a 2005 Justice Department study, and lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by corrections officers over the past four decades, but the state failed to take action, Mr. Slater notes.“It is important to remember that, under federal and state law, people who are incarcerated cannot legally consent to sex – the power imbalance is too great,” he says. “We also have numerous clients who were assaulted by the exact same guard – and these were people who don’t know each other and weren’t even incarcerated at the same time.”When asked if the individuals were seeking settlements or if the cases would likely go to court, Mr. Slater, said “there’s no one size-fits all approach” and that they would be handled “on a case-by-case basis.” He adds that statutes of limitations exist to protect defendants, but his firm is working “to achieve justice for sexual assault survivors.”

Male Celebrities and Statesmen Are Deluged With Lawsuits Alleging Decades-Old Sex Assaults as Window Opened by New York’s ‘Adult Survivors Act’ Closes

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