Russell Simmons owes three women $3 million (£2.26 million) after failing to pay previously agreed settlements, according to court records.
The three written agreements were filed this week in New York County Supreme Court on behalf of Sil Lai Abrams, Sherri Abernathy and Wendy Carolina Franco, Variety reports.
The documents were part of confidential settlement agreements that the women entered into with the music mogul in November 2023.
Simmons, who co-founded the hip-hop label Def Jam Recordings, agreed to pay each woman substantial sums “for claimant’s alleged personal, physical injuries and sickness”, by 1 October this year, but has failed to pay.
Simmons pledged to pay $1,265,000 (£955,000) each to Abrams and Abernathy, and $515,000 (£389,000) to Franco. Under the settlements, he did not admit any wrongdoing.
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.
Over nearly a decade, more than 20 women have accused Simmons of sexual assault. A former Def Jam executive sued him for defamation in February this year after she claimed he sexually assaulted her and he called her a “liar”.
In a podcast interview last year, Simmons acknowledged he had been in “compromising situations”, but said he had taken and passed nine lie detector tests dealing with the allegations of violent conduct.
