Nicki Minaj and her lawyer are demanding penalties against her accuser’s attorney, who filed a lawsuit against the rapper describing his behaviour as “reprehensible” and “disgraceful.”
The petitions were based on a lawsuit filed in August by Jennifer Hough in August against Minaj and her husband, Kenneth Petty. Hough claimed that petty had raped her decades ago and that she had been intimidated against speaking out by the couple. Minaj and Petty have denied the accusations claiming that Hough is trying to extract a settlement.
In January, Minaj was dropped from the case.
However, her attorney Judd Burstein has demanded legal sanctions against Tyrone Blackburn, one of Hough’s lawyers.
“Mr. Blackburn’s conduct in this case has been disgraceful,”: Burstein wrote in a Monday filing.
“He should be severely punished for it … so that, hopefully, other lawyers will understand that they have an obligation to their clients, the court, opposing counsel, and the legal profession itself not to pursue bad faith, frivolous, and indeed extortionate litigation in such a reprehensible manner.”
However, speaking to Billboard on Tuesday, Blackburn refuted the claims describing Burstein’s request for sanctions as “baseless.”
This filing comes as no surprise as after Nicki Minaj was dropped, a leaked email showed Burstein telling Blackburn that he would pay for the lawsuit that allegedly drained Minaj of €266037.90 in legal bills.
In his new filing, Burstein noted accusations of a wide range of misconduct against Blackburn. He said the opposing lawyer had falsely claimed in court documents that Minaj was a member of Queens street gang called the Makk Ballers, which Birstein had described as “a bad-faith effort to generate extremely negative media coverage.”
