Takeoff’s estate has reached a settlement to resolve a sexual assault lawsuit brought by a Jane Doe more than six years ago, Rolling Stone has exclusively learned.
The resolution comes about two weeks before a trial was set to start in Los Angeles, where
jurors were expected to see deposition testimony from the late Migos rapper that was recorded before his November 2022 murder.
Lawyers for both sides appeared in court Thursday and announced that the trial, scheduled to begin Dec. 1, would no longer be necessary. “A dismissal is forthcoming. It will be filed prior to [Dec. 1],” Tamar Yeghiayan, a lawyer for the rapper’s estate, told Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Huey P. Cotton. The judge then agreed to convert the Dec. 1 jury selection date into a status hearing.
“The matter is resolved,” a source with knowledge of the agreement tells Rolling Stone. Lawyers on both sides declined to comment on any potential terms, including whether any money would change hands for damages, medical expenses, or attorneys’ fees.
The Jane Doe previously admitted under oath that she had deleted text messages relevant to the lawsuit after she filed her complaint. Takeoff’s estate was pursuing a sanctions motion against her ahead of the trial. Her lawyers faulted the defense, claiming it never sent a preservation notice and waited years to request the texts.
Jane Doe filed her lawsuit in August 2020, alleging that Takeoff raped her at a house party in Encino that June. She claimed the rapper entered a bedroom where she had retreated after an argument, “flipped her over face-down,” and “proceeded to have forceful sexual intercourse” with her despite her explicit refusal.
According to the complaint, the woman sought treatment at a nearby hospital later that day, where medical staff documented what the lawsuit described as physical evidence of rape and notified the Los Angeles Police Department. Prosecutors ultimately declined to file criminal charges. But in a list of potential trial witnesses submitted to the court Monday, Jane Doe identified more than a dozen LAPD officers who might take the stand.
The witness list also revealed that Jane Doe planned to show jurors two hours of videotaped deposition testimony from Takeoff, whose legal name was Kirsnick Khari Ball. The rapper answered questions under oath on Sept. 27, 2022, exactly five weeks before he was fatally shot outside 810 Billiards & Bowling in downtown Houston on Nov. 1, 2022. (After the deadly shooting, Ball’s estate was substituted in as the defendant in Jane Doe’s case.)
Ball’s alleged killer, Patrick Xavier Clark, is set to go on trial in April 2027. Houston authorities claim he opened fire outside the bowling alley during an argument over a dice game. Clark’s defense lawyer previously told Rolling Stone that someone else fired first and he acted in self-defense.
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