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Artist News Legal
Nelly criticised over his response to rape allegations
By Chris Cooke | Published on Wednesday 11 October 2017
A US lawyer has claimed that the response of rapper Nelly to a rape allegation made against him last weekend has been “morally reprehensible” and possibly illegal.
As previously reported, Nelly was arrested over the weekend after a woman alleged that he attacked her in Auburn, Washington, where he was performing on Friday night. A police report states that a woman made a 911 call shortly before 4am on Saturday morning, saying that she had been raped by Nelly on his tour bus. The rapper was subsequently released without charge a few hours after being arrested.
He has strongly denied the allegations made against him, while his legal rep Scott Rosenblum said in a statement: “Our initial investigation clearly establishes this allegation is devoid of credibility and is motivated by greed and vindictiveness. I am confident, once this scurrilous accusation is thoroughly investigated, there will be no charges. Nelly is prepared to address and pursue all legal avenues to redress any damage caused by this clearly false allegation”.
Lawyer Karen Koehler, who is working for the alleged victim, has now criticised Nelly and his associates for the way they have responded to her client’s allegations, both in public and in private correspondence with the prosecutors reviewing the case. She takes particular issue with Nelly’s team describing her client as “a person with an agenda … the agenda is money, fame and notoriety”.
According to TMZ, Koehler has written in response: “It is morally reprehensible for an accused person and his bully lawyer to issue derogatory and defamatory statements against a young alleged rape victim. It is also criminal – in the state of Washington – when those vicious attacks are issued in the form of threats”.
When TMZ asked the aforementioned Rosenblum about Koehler remarks, he countered: “I would suggest re-reading the [intimidating a witness] statute [and] I would further suggest talking to some of the unbiased witnesses”. He then concluded: “Nelly will continue to respond to her client’s baseless allegations”.
