Jermaine Jackson ordered to pay more than $6.5 million to a woman who accused him of rape
The accuser claims that the singer broke into her home one day in 1988 and sexually assaulted her with "force and violence." [REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni]Singer Jermaine Jackson has been ordered to pay more than $6.5 million to a woman who accused him of raping her in 1988.
After years of avoiding a trial, 71-year-old Jermaine Jackson must now face the consequences. Sued in December 2023 for a rape he allegedly committed in 1988, Michael Jackson's brother, also a former member of the Jackson Five and father of Jafaar Jackson (currently starring in the biopic "Michael" ), has just been ordered to pay $6.5 million (€5.58 million) to the victim.
The accuser claims that the singer broke into her home one day in 1988 and sexually assaulted her with "force and violence".
According to the default judgment filed last Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court - which People was able to review - it was ruled that Jermaine Jackson must compensate his accuser Rita Butler Barrett for the damages suffered.
The facts concealed to protect the singer's career
The victim explained that she had known Jermaine Jackson for years through their "professional and personal ties," as her husband, Ben Barrett, was working at the time with Berry Gordy, the founder of Motown Records who had signed the Jackson Five in 1968.
Jermaine Jackson was married to Hazel Joy, Berry Gordy's eldest daughter, with whom he had three children. As reported by EW, at the time of the alleged events, Michael Jackson's brother was separated from his wife, who had filed for divorce in November 1987 after he fathered a child with his mistress, Margaret Maldonado.
In her complaint, Rita Butler Barrett stressed that she reported the assault to Berry Gordy the very next day, but that he preferred to "conceal the facts" to protect Jermaine Jackson, who was then under contract with Motown Records as a solo artist.
Berry Gordy's lawyers responded Saturday, stating that "Ms. Barrett's statements regarding Mr. Gordy were false." At the time of writing, Jermaine Jackson's lawyers had not commented on the court's decision.
Around 10 'new' victims come forward in France's Epstein investigation
French prosecutors investigating Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged trafficking network say around ten previously unidentified suspected victims have recently contacted authorities, widening a probe into possible abuse committed in France or involving French accomplices linked to the late financier.
Around ten "new" suspected victims have come forward in a French probe into the network of late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a Paris prosecutor said Sunday.
France opened a human trafficking investigation after the US Justice Department in January released the latest cache of files from the investigation into the disgraced financier, who died in prison in 2019 while facing charges of trafficking underage girls for sex.
French magistrates are seeking to investigate possible offences committed in France or involving French perpetrators who facilitated his crimes.
Top Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said around 20 suspected victims had made themselves known after she in February urged potential victims to speak up.
Some were already known to investigators, she told the RTL broadcaster.
"But we also had new victims come forward, ones we didn't know at all. There are around 10 of them," she added.
"The choice we've made for the time being is to listen to these victims," she said.
"A certain number of them are abroad so the investigators have tried to set up meetings to suit when they are able to come to Paris."
Investigators were also scouring through the so-called Epstein files, and would be searching them for any names mentioned by alleged victims, she said.
"We have also once again pulled out Mr Epstein's computers, his telephone records, his address books," she said, adding her team would be "making requests for international assistance".
French investigators searched Epstein's luxury Paris apartment in September 2019, after he was found hanged in his New York jail cell the previous month.
Read moreFormer model accuses French scout of grooming her for Epstein
Suspected victims already known to investigators included women who had spoken during investigations into former European model agency boss Gerald Marie and late model agent Jean-Luc Brunel.
Fifteen women in March urged France to investigate Marie for possible links to Epstein.
Investigators in 2023 closed another probe into accusations Marie committed sexual abuse in the 1980s and 1990s because it was too long ago to be prosecuted.
French authorities arrested Brunel in 2020 after allegations he sexually abused minors and procured victims for the US billionaire. He was found dead in prison in 2022.
Two former models have told AFP that a modelling scout named Daniel Siad groomed them with the aim of delivering them to Epstein in one case in the 2000s, and Marie in the other case in the 1990s.
In the latest human trafficking probe, "none of the people who could potentially be implicated have been questioned" so far, Beccuau said.
Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to procuring for prostitution a girl under the age of 18, and served 13 months in prison before being released on probation.
(FRANCE 24 with AP)
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