Russell Simmons owes three women $3 million over unpaid severance payments

According to court documents, Russell Simmons owes three women $3 million after he failed to pay them previously agreed settlements.

On Wednesday, three guilty pleas were filed in New York County Supreme Court on behalf of journalists Sil Lai Abrams, Sherri Abernathy and Wendy Carolina Franco. The documents were part of confidential settlement agreements the women reached with the music mogul in November 2023.

Simmons agreed to pay each woman substantial sums by Oct. 1 “for the applicant’s alleged personal injuries, bodily injuries and medical injuries.” However, according to the documents, he did not make the payment.

As part of the settlement, he presented the plaintiffs with the confessions of judgment last year. In the event of a default, they provide plaintiffs with an expedited opportunity to obtain judgments in New York State court and begin the collection process.

Simmons promised to pay Abrams and Abernathy $1,265,000 each and Franco $515,000. As part of the settlement, Simmons admitted no wrongdoing.

Legal representatives for the women and Simmons did not respond diversityPlease comment.

The documents do not explicitly state why the original settlements were reached, but Abrams, an author and domestic violence activist, has previously made allegations that Simmons raped her in 1994. In 2020, she participated in the documentary “On the Record,” which focused on experiences of black women in hip-hop.

For nearly a decade, more than 20 women have accused Simmons of sexual assault, starting as recently as last February when Jane Doe, who once worked for Def Jam, said he raped her in the late 1990s. Two days after the lawsuit, another former Def Jam executive named Drew Dixon sued him for defamation after she claimed he sexually assaulted her and he subsequently branded her a “liar.”

In a podcast interview last year, Simmons admitted to being in “compromising situations” but said he took and passed nine polygraph tests that addressed allegations of violent behavior.