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Def Jam’s Ex-President Says Rape Accuser Can’t Sue After 2005 Settlement with UMG

Former Def Jam President Kevin Liles says a woman can't sue him for rape after settling with UMG, but she says the deal was for wrongful termination.

The Jane Doe now suing former Def Jam President Kevin Liles with allegations he raped her in a company office in 2002 previously signed a settlement agreement that released Def Jam’s owner, UMG, and any staff including Liles from “all claims” related to the woman’s employment at the label, a copy of the 2005 settlement filed in federal court reveals. Liles attached a copy of the previously confidential settlement to a new legal filing this week, arguing that the 20-year-old pact barred Doe from suing both him and UMG last February. “[Jane Doe] had and continues to have a good faith belief that the scope of the release was not intended to cover the rape by Kevin Liles,” the Friday letter from the woman’s lawyer, Lucas B. Franken, reads.

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