Def Jam recordings founder Russell Simmons is sued for rape by woman who claims he wrestled her then sexually assaulted her at NYC apartment, a year after another woman accused him of sex attack

Music executive Russell Simmons has been sued for sexual harassment and assault by a former Def Jam Recordings executive.

The prosecutor, who filed the complaint in New York federal court on Tuesday, has accused the music mogul, 66, of raping her in his apartment in the 1990s.

She claims in the lawsuit that she was invited to his home, where he began to “wrestle” with her in a “playful” manner before the “situation escalated into aggression.”

New York-born multimillionaire Simmons, who founded hip-hop and R&B label Def Jam Recordings in 1984, has not yet responded to the damning allegations.

He claimed to have previously slept with “thousands” of women, and acknowledged that a handful have come forward with “compromising” stories about him.

Simmons said in an interview before this lawsuit came out, “Of course I’ve been insensitive, but I’ve certainly never been forceful in my relationships.”

The lawsuit states: “Ms. Doe repeatedly told Mr. Simmons to get off her, but he refused. Mr. Simmons then proceeded to rape her.”

The music director also allegedly harassed her at their office. The lawsuit alleges, “He sat on her desk, leaned over her, aggressively invaded her personal space while making sexual innuendos, suggestions, and advances, and rubbing the front of his pants.”

He would stop her from opening her office door to kick him out, the complaint alleges.

The lawsuit also made claims for battery, false imprisonment and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

It was covered by the state’s Adult Survivors Act, but the window for bringing forward longtime sexual misconduct claimants was closed in November.

This comes just two months after Russell Simmons opened up about the sexual assault allegations that derailed his career in a new interview in Bali.

He claimed he has never been violent towards anyone, and has taken nine polygraph tests since the allegations against him came to light six years ago.

The 66-year-old New Yorker, who appeared in In Depth with Graham Bensinger, acknowledged that he had behaved “abusively” and been involved in “compromising situations” sexually in the past, amid allegations of sexual misconduct from at least fifteen women.

“If you had slept with as many people as I have slept with thousands – and we are talking about six people,” he said, with the latter number referring to people he says he has spoken to “badly” in the past.

Simmons, who spends most of his time in Bali, Indonesia, where the interview was filmed, said he has “never been violent towards anyone,” which doesn’t mean he always treated his sexual partners well.

“Of course I have been insensitive,” he said, “but I have certainly never been forceful in my relationships, all of which have been consensual.”

The music mogul told Bensinger that he has taken nine polygraph tests in an effort to clear his name following the allegations against him, which were part of the MeToo movement that began in the fall of 2017.

“I took nine lie detector tests, people don’t know that,” the Def Jam co-founder said. “Nine separate – seven from the President of the Polygraph Association – one for each serious charge.”

Simmons said that when he took the polygraph tests, he addressed specific verbiage in the allegations made against him.

“For example, when someone said, ‘I was violent’ – one person said that – and I’ve never been violent. I brought that with me,” he said. “And someone said I apologized. I have never apologized for attacking anyone.

“But if two people say it, because one person said it, and MeToo, and the second person said it, then I did a test for it. Three hours per test by two polygraph testers; one time I’ve never done this to anyone, and one time I’ve never done this to everyone individually.’

Simmons said he believed in the veracity of the polygraph tests he took, saying, “Some people say they’re not accurate, but it’s 94 percent accurate.

“I’ve done nine, it’s pretty clear I don’t believe it,” Simmons said. ‘I even asked, “What if I believe it, but it’s not true?” He said, “Your subconscious will get you.”

“I don’t know how true that is, but that’s what the president of the Polygraph Association told me.”

Simmons said there were “very gray” areas in which he may have processed a memory that was different from that of another person involved.

“I can simply tell you that I have been in so many compromising situations that people may have a memory from thirty or forty years ago,” he said, “and it may differ from my memory. And it could be one where there might be a collaboration.”

Simmons’ family issues surfaced publicly last year when his ex-wife Kimora Lee Simmons and daughter Aoki Lee Simmons aired their grievances with him in June.

Aoki claimed he verbally abused her by sharing text messages and screenshots of her communications with her father.

Aoki explained to Teen Vogue in September her motivations for making details of her stormy relationship with her father public, saying he had negatively impacted her mental health due to his erratic behavior.

“Some of it was already available,” Aoki said. “There were reasons why I thought it was reasonable to publish, because it was in a kind of silent bubble.”

Aoki posted texts and videos of her interactions with her father in June to reflect their fractured relationship.

She said the Def Jam co-founder had been “terrible to her for years,” and that it had caused her significant anxiety issues.

Aoki said Russell – who previously tried unsuccessfully to salvage his reputation following sexual misconduct allegations with a publicity campaign – had not been well for “years”.

She wrote: ‘He needs help and won’t accept it. He refuses to acknowledge that he is not himself.

“He threatened and bullied my sister, my grandmother, harassed my grandmother in the middle of the night when she was in poor health, and sent a man to my sister’s apartment at two in the morning to scare her .’

Aoki said Russell “lashes out at ANYONE who doesn’t say ‘oh Russell, everything’s fine,'” adding, ‘Well, it’s not okay.’