Atlanta Rapper T.I. and his wife are facing heat after more than 30 victims have come forward to ask for a criminal investigation into claims of forced drugging, kidnapping, rape, and intimidation.
The rapper and movie star, whose real name is Clifford Harris, along with his wife Tameka “Tiny” Harris, have denied the allegations, which were first made in January. None of the victims have filed a lawsuit against the pair, although at one point, Celebrity attorney Lisa Bloom said she was representing a number of victims who hired her. Additionally, no criminal investigation has been instituted, although some persons, including former friend Sabrina Peterson who brought the allegations to light, have publicly called on the authorities to launch a criminal investigation.
Another Attorney-at-Law, Tyrone A. Blackburn, says he has asked the police on behalf of at least eight alleged victims who claim the couple or members of their entourage violated them, the New York Times reported.
In a news conference, the attorney said the majority of the incidents occurred in Atlanta and dated back to 2007. According to the lawyer, the allegations from the women range from claiming that they had been drugged and sexually assaulted by the couple, and one of them also alleged that a security guard working for the couple had kidnapped her at gunpoint and eventually sexually assaulted her after driving her to the woods.
In addition, the attorney referred to the victims as more than “[30] women, survivors and witnesses”, who all share similar accusations of “forced drugging, kidnapping, rape and intimidation.”
The attorney also said many of the allegations go back to as much as 30 years ago and are what he calls “eerily consistent.” There are also specific allegations against T.I.’s wife, Tiny Harris. The victims say they were “coerced by Tiny to ingest drugs” or that they were “unknowingly administered drugs to impair the victims’ ability to consent to ‘sexual acts.”
The attorney says he has since sent letters to Georgia’s Attorney General and the Authorities in California for criminal investigations to be launched into the allegations. He says the basis of the requests falls under several laws, including the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) and Georgia’s Rape, Kidnapping, RICO, and Terroristic Threats Statutes. The statutory minimum sentence under this act is 25 years, and the maximum sentence on conviction is either the death penalty or life in prison without parole.
As the story unfolds, five victims also spoke to the New York Times say they were drugged or sexually assaulted by the couple or by others who are in their close circle.
Meanwhile, Steve Sadow, the Attorney-at-Law representing the couple, has put out a statement from them which denies the allegations.
“Clifford (T.I.) and Tameka Harris deny in the strongest possible terms these unsubstantiated and baseless allegations. We are confident that if these claims are thoroughly and fairly investigated, no charges will be forthcoming. These allegations are nothing more than the continuation of a sordid shakedown campaign that began on social media. The Harrises [sic] implore everyone not to be taken in by these obvious attempts to manipulate the press and misuse the justice system.”
The reference to a shakedown campaign is directed at Sabrina Peterson, who had initially alleged that the rapper had put a gun to her head and had threatened to kill her. She says she is now being harassed by the couple who are smearing her name, and she has now filed a lawsuit for defamation.
According to the claim, Peterson says the statements made by T.I. and his wife, including social media posts, have damaged her good reputation. According to her, the couple has been harassing her since she made the disclosure to the public about the gun incident in which she says she had gotten into an altercation with the rapper’s assistant, and that was when T.I. pointed his gun at her head and said: “B**ch I’ll kill you.”
Peterson says Tiny has exposed the identity of her son to her millions of followers, and this poses a danger to the child.
She also says T.I. caused her reputation to suffer damage when he mentioned her in an 8-minute response he had posted to social media in which he asserted him and his wife’s innocence and bashed Peterson for harassing his family, and referred to her actions as “evil at play,” which has led to threatening messages on Instagram and harassment from his followers.
Her lawsuit made claims of infliction of emotional distress in addition to the defamation claim. The celebrity couple turned community advocates are yet to reply to Peterson’s case.
