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Heathcliff Berru denies sexual battery accusation

By Andy Malt | Published on Wednesday 6 April 2016

The lawyer representing Heathcliff Berru has said that he is confident no formal charges will be brought against his client, after Tearist’s Yasmine Kittles filed a sexual battery claim against the former Life Or Death PR boss last week.

In a statement to Page Six, Berru’s legal rep Brian Klein said: “Heathcliff denies any criminal conduct. We are confident that when the LAPD investigation of her allegations is completed, no charges will be filed”.

As previously reported, back in January, Dirty Projectors’ Amber Coffman tweeted about a “very popular music publicist” who had “RUBBED my ass and BIT my hair at a bar a couple years ago”.

Hours later, she named Berru as the man in her story, which prompted many others, including Kittles, to come forward with reports of the PR man’s past actions. Berru subsequently resigned as CEO of his company, apologised for past conduct, and said he was seeking help for his addictions, while his staff all quit and formed a new PR firm with no ties to their former employer.

Kittle is the first alleged victim we know of to formally report Berru to the police. In a post on Facebook last week, the musician said: “As some of you may know, yesterday I filed criminal charges against Heathcliff Berru for sexual battery”.

She continued: “After seeing how many women came forward after us, I knew I had to do something more than just comment about it. He has to be stopped and others like him have to know that women will report them. We have to stop the cycle. It will not be easy, and it’s scary as hell. But we have the power to change things… if we want to”.