Artist News Legal

Nelly sexual assault accusations under investigation by Essex Police

By Andy Malt | Published on Wednesday 14 February 2018

Nelly is now under investigation over an alleged sexual assault in Essex last year. Reports of the incident, following a show at Southend’s Cliffs Pavilion, first emerged in a US defamation lawsuit against the rapper last month.

Essex Police said in a statement: “We are investigating after a woman reported to us that she was sexually assaulted at an address in Westcliff on 5 Dec 2017”.

The allegations made by an unnamed woman were included, along with details of another alleged attack at a show in London, in an updated defamation lawsuit brought against the rapper by Monique Greene.

The rapper was arrested in the US last October after Greene accused him of raping her on his tour bus. The investigation was later dropped, after she refused to testify, her attorney saying that she felt “the system was going to fail her”.

After the criminal case was dropped, Nelly launched legal action against Greene, to which she launched a countersuit. Her lawsuit states that she decided not to participate in the criminal investigation after police broke her anonymity, despite promises not to, which led to a wave of attacks online.

Commenting on the new police investigation in the UK, Nelly’s attorney, Scott Rosenblum, told TMZ: “These allegations arose after Ms Greene amended her suit for money to include a reference to these claims. The fact that the police are investigating these claims is not new information and Nelly welcomes a thorough investigation. Nelly is confident that once investigated, these claims will be determined to be disingenuous”.

He added: “Nelly was accompanied by his girlfriend during this tour and she was at his side throughout. It is important that police investigate every allegation of this nature”.

Another accusation against Nelly detailed in Greene’s updated lawsuit is alleged to have taken place at Koko in London.