Russell Simmons owes three women $3 million after failing to pay them previously agreed-upon settlements, according to court records.
Three confessions of judgment were filed Wednesday in New York County Supreme Court on behalf of journalist Sil Lai Abrams, Sherri Abernathy and Wendy Carolina Franco. The documents were part of confidential settlement agreements the women entered into with the music mogul in November 2023.
Simmons agreed to pay each woman substantial sums “for claimant’s alleged personal, physical injuries and sickness,” by Oct. 1. But according to the documents, he has failed to pay.
He provided the confessions of judgment to the plaintiffs last year, as part of the settlement. In the event of a default, they give the plaintiffs an expedited means to obtain judgments in New York state court and to begin the collections process.
Simmons pledged to pay $1,265,000 each to Abrams and Abernathy, and $515,000 to Franco. Under the settlements, Simmons did not admit any wrongdoing.
Legal representatives for both the women and Simmons did not respond to Variety’s requests for comment.
The documents do not explicitly state why the original settlements were made, 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 Black women’s experiences in hip-hop.
Over nearly a decade, more than 20 women have accused Simmons of sexual assault, as recently as this past February when a Jane Doe who once worked for Def Jam said that he raped her in the late ‘90s. Two days after the suit, 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 acknowledged being in “compromising situations,” but said he had taken and passed nine lie detector tests dealing with the allegations of violent conduct.
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