On Wednesday evening, November 22, Pitchfork reported that Jimmy Iovine, co-founder of Interscope Records, is facing allegations of “sexual misconduct and abuse.” A summons was filed earlier in the day in Supreme Court of the State of New York County. The publication specified, “Only the summons has been filed; the lawsuit itself is forthcoming.” The woman filing is publicly identified as Jane Doe.
“Doe claims that she was ‘sexually abused, forcibly touched, and subjected to sexual harassment and retaliation’ in August 2007,” Pitchfork‘s Evan Minsker wrote. “The lawsuit against Iovine is for assault and battery, as well as violations of the New York City Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Act and the New York City Human Right Law.”
Billboard additionally relayed that the filing attorneys on Doe’s behalf are Douglas Wigdor and Meredith Firetog of Wigdor Law. Because only a summons has been filed, “the full complaint is not yet available.” However, Billboard was able to confirm the following: “The case includes an accusation of ‘multiple instances’ of abuse along with a specific incident of sexual misconduct that occurred in New York in 2007. The woman is seeking economic and compensatory damages, punitive damages, attorneys’ fees and costs.”
Iovine co-founded Interscope in 1990 and remained at the head of the label until his departure from Interscope Geffen A&M in May 2014 (as relayed by Billboard at the time). In 2006, Iovine and Dr. Dre co-founded Beats By Dr. Dre (more commonly known as Beats). They sold to Apple for a reported $3 billion in 2014 “and helped launch Apple Music,” as reported by The New York Times in December 2019.
Iovine retired from Apple in 2018. The 70-year-old was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame last November — receiving the Ahmet Ertegun Award.