Russell Simmons, Brett Ratner Face Sexual Assault Allegations

Russell Simmons and producer Brett Ratner arrive at the Vanity Fair Oscar party hosted by Graydon Carter held at Sunset Tower on February 27, 2011 in West Hollywood, California. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

A woman has accused music mogul Russell Simmons of sexually assaulting her in 1991, and she says movie producer Brett Ratner watched the incident happen and didn't try to stop it. In a bombshell Los Angeles Times report, Keri Claussen Khalighi says she met Simmons and Ratner at a casting call when she was just 17 years old. At the time Simmons was the head of Def Jam records and Ratner an up-and-coming music video director. 

One night they invited Khalighi to dinner and then back to Simmons' New York apartment to watch a music video the two men had worked on. Once there, Khalighi alleges, Simmons ripped her clothes off and tried to force her to have sex while Ratner watched, even as Khalighi tried to fight Simmons off and asked Ratner for help. Khalighi eventually acquiesced to performing oral sex. While she took a shower afterwards, Simmons penetrated her without consent.

Read the full story on Newser.com


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